RWBY Build Fighters
by Arc and Lowen
Summary: A light-hearted and action-packed re-imagining of RWBY characters in a world where building and competing with models of one's favorite giant mecha reigns supreme, RWBY Build Fighters aims to capture the fast-paced fights of the Gundam franchise with stylized redesigns of your favorite characters from RWBY and JPDE, alongside characters from the Gundam Build Fighters anime series.
1. The Invite

**HELLO EVERYONE! ARC Alpha 12 here with a couple of things to talk about. First off, for those who were fans of the Inevitable and are confused as to why it disappeared, allow me to explain: due to a lack of viewership and constant strain caused from retconning the story in ways it should not have needed, as well as creative differences, it was decided the project should be cancelled.**

**That does not mean I'm done writing, however! Ivory Tower will be resuming publishing soon after a short hiatus for trying to gather how I want to proceed, but with it actually coming to an end soon for the early readers who get the documents before they hit, I needed a new outlet. Hence this series: RWBY Build Fighters, a crossover of Gundam Build Fighters and RWBY! **

**If you like Mecha fan fiction this is going to be a fun one, primarily because at certain points I'm going to be letting YOU decide who I write in the fights! While many fights will be scripted for plot purposes, the fun of this fan fiction will be that I can literally put any Gundam character in any machine and play out dream matches or have training sessions between the characters. And, every time a character or new customized Gundam is introduced, I'll be providing bios and visual references. **

**I hope you all enjoy this first chapter. ****Please don't forget to follow, fave and leave a comment on this story if you like what you see. We look forward to hearing what you have to say!**

* * *

Ruby gritted her teeth. The yellow HUD was blaring warning signs. The beam rifle was toast, Crimson Strike Noir's left arm was destroyed and the right was crippled and barely functional. One leg was blown to pieces. And all that in less than two minutes.

She still had the twin linear guns on the Strike Noir backpack, some rounds in her forehead Vulcans, the Ootori cannons from the Strike Rouge she had only recently added, the rocket anchor on the remaining foot and wings, the AGE-2 Dark Hound rocket anchors she had hidden on the hip skirts, the beam blades, she had lost her twin beam spear within the first minute…

Dammit. She shouldn't have charged head on so many times. What a rookie mistake, and for all the nation to see! This was the Pacific Northwest Regional Championship Finals!

She stared ahead of her. The Burning Gundam Echelon stood, a brilliant black, white, and gold machine that shone as they sat on the surface of Luna II. She could hear her older half-sister, Yang, snicker as she closed in. "Sorry, Sis. You should give up now and spare Crimson Noir any more damage."

Yang was still new to Gunpla Battle, but her martial arts background, combined with the Mobile Trace system, completely negated her inexperience. Unlike Ruby, who relied on the glowing hard-light orbs in her hands to control her Gunpla, Yang was using her whole body. It was a plus and a minus-Yang had superior control but could tire out if she didn't pace herself. Not that that seemed to matter right now, considering she had taken only a small amount of damage and already had Ruby crippled in such a short period of time.

Ruby looked at her left hand and examined her options. Five rocket anchors…

"I'm not done yet, Yang!" She called back; a spark of an idea flickered in her mind. If she could get Yang in closer, the rocket anchors might be all she needed.

"Oooooo you sound confident," Yang teased. "Alright, you asked for it!"

Burning Echelon boosted forward and moved to nail Crimson Noir with a killing blow. Ruby waited for her to get within range. Just a little closer…

The left rocket anchor on the backpack pivoted and fired. Yang scoffed and boosted to the right, dodging it, but was forced to boost up suddenly when the right anchor fired. "Nice try, sis, but you're not getting me with that!"

The hip-mounted anchors swiveled up and fired. Due to coming from an SD kit, the hooks on them were far larger, and could have easily ripped a good-sized chunk out of Yang's Gunpla if they hooked her. She rapidly changed direction, jetting down to the surface of Luna II, landing hard from the momentum. She charged Ruby, Vernier thrusters at max output.

Ruby clicked on the hard-light orb in her right palm and cycled her weapon slots over to the Ootori hip cannons she had added to the pack. They flipped outwards and fired, putting Yang on the defensive. She swerved erratically in the air, before landing to Ruby's left and boosting at her again.

Ruby retracted the rocket anchors and boosted up as Yang delivered a devastating punch to the ground, causing the asteroid's surface to crater on impact. Ruby fired the cannons again, forcing Yang to leap out of the way. Ruby fired the rocket anchor on her remaining foot, which Yang caught and pulled on, dragging Crimson Noir back down.

"Ah!" Ruby exclaimed, feeling the holographic cockpit's platform shudder under her feet to simulate the impact. She looked up, just as Burning Echelon closed the distance on her.

And she smiled.

The right arm of her mech raised, as if to stop the incoming assault, but a tow cable fired from a small port on its forearm. It's magnetic grappling hook stuck to the chest armor of Burning Echelon, which tried to end the fight with a powerful heel kick. Ruby twisted her machine's arm around the cable, pulling Yang in, before delivering a kick straight to her stomach, knocking her away.

_With her using the Mobile Trace, I can't compete with her reaction time in close quarters. So, I need to limit her mobility._

She stuck her damaged arm out again, twisting her right orb to select a new weapon. Yang had righted herself in space and was starting to tug at the tow cable. "Hey, what the hell is this? Get this thing off me!"

Ruby clicked on the hard-light orb, activating an electrical shock that ran through the cable and hit the Burning Echelon with such potent force that Yang screamed as she watched her HUD pop up warnings and turn red. Error messages and alarms blared around her as she moved her body. Normally, this would move the machine, as her movements were being tracked by the holographic cockpit, but right now, she watched as her Gunpla drifted, twitching from being electrocuted. "What the hell?"

Ruby chuckled. "I told you that you should study all the anime before you decided on a kit," Ruby said confidently. "I replaced the arm rocket anchors with two of the Gouf Custom heat rods from Gundam The 08th MS Team. They serve the same function, but with the bonus of using an electrical pulse that'll shut your machine down."

"Oh, is that how it is?" Yang growled, her anger growing.

The electrical shocks kept coursing through Burning Echelon as Yang watched Ruby push off the asteroid surface, her wing edges glowing as the beam-edged physical swords mounted there activated. The twin linear beam cannons on her backpack swiveled forward and opened fire as she boosted forward, riddling Burning Echelon with beam blasts that began to chip away sections of its armor. One foot was destroyed, half of the Gundam's head was taken out, her left arm was hanging on by a thread.

Ruby charged, the wings of Crimson Noir spread outwards, preparing to cleave her sister's Gunpla in half. Yang clenched her teeth, and her brow furrowed. "Dammit!"

Burning Echelon's body began to glow a dangerous red as the machine started moving again, even through the shocks. Ruby gasped as Yang grabbed the tow cable and pulled, ripping off a section of the chest armor of her Gunpla but freeing it from the electrical shocks. She boosted her legs upwards as Crimson Noir sailed under her. Ruby let out a cry as Yang punched her Gunpla back down to the asteroid.

"Forgot about this, didn't you?" Yang asked, charging her in her suit's Berserker mode. Her remaining food drove itself into the back of Crimson Noir, sending alarms up on Ruby's end and nearly breaking the model in half.

Ruby winced as she watched, her Gundam at Yang's mercy. What else could she do? Despite the first real damage being inflicted to it, Burning Echelon was still in far better shape than her own machine. She cycled through the available weapons. There had to be something…

Yang raised her right hand, and Burning Echelon did the same, its fist glowing with an awesome power, it's burning grip calling to defeat her opponent. "It's over, Ruby. Good fight."

Yang swung her fist down but was blinded as the backpack of Crimson Noir ignited it's afterburners. Her fist hit the Gundam's back, burning straight through, but the backpack of the machine ejected a second before, singeing the cameras. Yang blinked a few times, trying to clear the stars from her eyes, and looked up just as the backpack flew straight at her. She tried to dodge, but the beam edge on one of the wings clipped her right shoulder, cleaving the entire arm off of Burning Echelon.

She pushed away as Crimson Noir detonated, blown up remotely by Ruby, who swing around for another pass. Although her Gundam had taken so much damage it was impossible to really fight with it, the Strike Noir pack had not, and the modifications to it, turning it into a skygrasper fighter for last-ditch assaults, had kept her alive and in the fight.

More than that, Yang now only had one good limb. Even in Berserker mode, she couldn't fight a fully functional fighter craft.

"Aw, you've got to be kidding me!" she exclaimed, landing hard on the asteroid's surface. Her one good leg's knee joint was strained, and she had no means of short-range combat capabilities now. She cycled to her shoulder-mounted Gatling's and her one still functioning head Vulcan machine gun and opened fire, trying to shoot the Skygrasper down.

Ruby did a barrel roll, expertly dodging the incoming flak. She aimed the Ootori cannons forward, circling around, trying to drain Yang of all of her ammo. If she could just hold on a little longer….

"Stand still and let me hit you!" Yang screamed, turning as fast as she was able to with only one leg. Ruby circled into her blind spot and spun, repositioning herself as Yang struggled to turn around. She shot straight up, before backflipping and right herself back into a forward facing position.

She fired four shots from the Ootori cannons, accompanied with the twin linear guns as added support. Burning Echelon managed to turn and look up as the first shots impacted, striking it center mass. The second shots hit her remaining arm and, thanks to the hole created from the magnetic grappler being pulled off, the internal structure, which blew a hole straight through the Gunpla. The red aura around it ceased, and it collapsed, completely disabled.

"Burning Gundam Echelon is unable to continue battling!" The announcer called out excitedly as Ruby panted, exhausted. "The winner, and United States Northwest Regional Champion, is Crimson Strike Noir and Ruby Rose!"

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause as the holographic cockpit came down from around her and the hard-light orb controls disappeared. She sighed. It was over.

She looked over at the table. The hard-light-created field had disappeared, leaving only the two heavily damaged model kits in the center. Crimson Strike Noir was completely destroyed; only the booster pack remained. The rest of the kit lay scattered in pieces around the table. Burning Echelon sat, a gaping hole through its chest and out its back, the melted plastic on its right side where its arm used to be signalling that it would be practically impossible to repair, as well.

She looked over at Yang. Her lilac eyes looked down sadly at the two kits, but then glanced up at Ruby. A sad, but proud, smile formed on her lips. "Good job, Rubes. I didn't think you had anything left after that last kick."

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that…" she said sadly. "Crim…I'm sorry…"

"Hey, don't sweat it," Yang said, encouraging her. "I'm sure you'll build a new one in, like, a week, and he'll be even better!"

She gathered the pieces of her destroyed Gunpla up. Both kits would need to be recreated from scratch. But, even still, it was one hell of a fight. She wiped a tear away and grinned. She was already thinking about what she was going to do to improve her Gunpla.

Both sisters looked up to the stands, where Dad was sitting, most likely smiling down at his daughters, thought the stadium lights made it impossible to see. And somewhere, she knew their mom was watching, proud…..

* * *

Blake pushed a strand of her black hair behind her ear, watching Yang as she worked on her Gunpla. It had been three days since the end of Regionals, and the fight had done wonders for Blake's curiosity. She watched how both sisters moved inside their holographic cockpits-Ruby with her basic orb controls and Yang using her martial arts and the motion capture of the Mobile Trace system-and it had sparked something inside her.

Ruby smiled as she watched Yang and her girlfriend bond over the hobby. Blake had barely begun to build, but with Yang at her side, she was learning fast.

"So...I don't quite get it," Blake said as she looked over at the replay. "How do plastic models move like they do in the show?"

Ruby's silver eyes sparkled with excitement. She spun away from her desk and scooted her office chair over to Yang's side of the room, grinning ecstatically. "WELL! The table that displays the hard-light holograms also produces a special kind of particle called Plavsky Particles, named after the famous Minovsky Particle from the Universal Century Mobile Suit Gundam series."

Blake looked at the younger girl, trying to follow. "That's...the one that came first, right?"

"Yup! Featuring the RX-78-2 Gundam, piloted by Amuro Ray! It premiered back in 1978, and it was what basically started the Real Robot genre of anime, because-"

"Ruby," Yang said, not looking up from the Duel Gundam body that she was snapping together. "You're doing it again."

"Oh! Sorry!" Ruby blushed sheepishly. "Um...anyway. The Plavsky Particles react with the plastic all Gunpla are made out of. It causes them to move by essentially acting like...I guess the easiest way to think of it is like strings on a puppet. The effects like boosters and lasers and explosions are all simulated using a combination of hard-light and holograms, and the Plavsky Particles will interact with the plastic and cause the damage to be realistic."

"Is that why your beam saber wing melted Yang's Gundam's arm off?" Blake asked.

"Yeah! The particles basically acted like intense heat, just like if the saber had been real, and simulated it in the same way! The computer also determines how the damage would be displayed on the HUD of the pilot's screen, so they can verify and react to the damage."

"Huh…" Blake looked at the old, destroyed Burning Echelon, sitting in pieces in front of Yang, and the parts that Yang was building from Duel Gundam, namely the hips, torso, and shoulders, that would serve as the basis of the new Burning Echelon. "But...doesn't that mean that you need to manually fix any damage that's done?"

"Yeah...sometimes it can really suck," Ruby admitted. "Especially during the middle of a tournament. But, that's why you should always build spare parts to swap out! I normally keep about three extra pairs of arms and legs with me. I'm not as concerned with the head, so I have a few different ones. The important part is making sure the parts are both well built and well maintained."

"Why?" Blake asked, not understanding.

"Well, the better built the part, the more performance you get," Yang said, biting her tongue as she gently shaved the plastic of the first shoulder. "Removing nub marks, painting, removing seams. The more care you put into the model, the better it'll perform. I've only ever built Duel, Shining, Nobel, and God Gundam's, just to maintain Echelon. So I'm really, really good with those kits. But the more practice you have, the better you get, and the better your Gundam is in battle."

"It's kinda like a real mobile suit in that way," Ruby added. "You don't want to go into battle with a crappy or hobbled together machine. The better the machine's care, the better the machine's abilities."

"I see. So, the repairs and stuff are to make it feel more realistic." Blake looked over at Yang. "And it keeps your skills sharp."

"Yup!" Yang said happily, holding up the finished Duel Gundam torso. "Plus, rebuilding it lets you improve the design. Like, I'm still going to use Shining Gundam's arms for Echelon, but I'm going to try my hand at editing the wrist bracers this time so that it has a shotgun inside it along with the Shining Shot. So that way, when I punch people, I can shoot them, too! And, I'll add some armor to God Gundam's legs, to keep you from blowing them up again."

Ruby shot her a sideways look. "You destroyed my leg first! It was payback!"

Blake glanced over at Ruby's desk. The surviving pieces of Crimson Strike Noir sat in a pile. The boxes for Strike Noir and Strike Rouge we're behind them, but she noted that those were not the ones that were open. "That's not a Strike Gundam…" she commented, observing the two open boxes on the desk. "Are you building something else?"

"Oh! Yeah," Ruby replied. "I realized that, while Crim's backpack saved my bacon in that fight, I needed to find a stronger Gundam to base my design off of. So, I chose Gundam Death scythe and Destiny Gundam."

Yang looked over her shoulder. "Huh ...not two I would have expected for you." her eyes locked on a piece on the desk. It was a piece of pla plate, the default, standard plastic sheets that model users used to cut additional armor pieces off of. Ruby often used it to make custom joints for greater mobility, but this piece looked different. Like it was turning into some kind of pole. "Hey, what's that?"

Ruby looked over at her desk. She grinned. "An experiment. I want to see if I can make a custom weapon. Specifically, a scythe."

"Doesn't Deathscythe have a scythe?"

Ruby pouted. "Yes, but I want to be like Uncle Qrow and build mine from scratch as he did for Deathscythe Azreal. If I can get it to work right, it'll take people by surprise and let me have better options in a fight."

"So, you went with Destiny? I'm surprised. Why not use Impulse Gundam to replace Strike? It has a Destiny pack, right?"

Ruby scoffed. "Impulse is just a cheap, knock-off Strike that ZAFT built because they had an inferiority complex and the anime designers ran out of ideas. Honestly, most of SEED Destiny is trash. But Destiny Gundam itself has a lot of design elements that both the basic Deathscythe and Deathscythe Hell Custom from Endless Waltz has. So, I thought maybe I could do something with it."

She rolled back over to her desk. "Between the combination of the kits and the custom weapon I'm making, I hope I'll be able to do some more with it. Crim was powerful, but fighting you made me realize that I put too many gimmicks into it. I need something simpler."

Yang smirked. "Glad I could help."

"I want to help, too," Blake said. She grabbed her purse off the ground and pulled out a Gunpla of her own. It was green, yellow, and white, with clear blue blade pieces on the shield, which it wore like a shoulder cape on its left side.

Ruby's eyes lit up. "Is that a 00 Quanta?" She asked, her jaw dropped she stood up and asked to see it, and Blake handed it over. "Did you build this?"

"No..." Blake admitted. "We had that foreign exchange student, Shia, from Japan. She and I got really close, and she gave me her Gundam as a thank you. I didn't really understand, but she said that it was important to her."

"It has cute little kitty ears!" Ruby fawned over the Gundam, turning it over and over in her hand. "The design and build quality are exceptional! This is World Tournament level!"

"Well, Shia was on a team last year that came in runners up in the World Team Championships."

Ruby looked down at her. "Wait, she fought the Try Fighters in the Finals?"

"Yeah. She's friends with them. I think she's actually in love with their ace, Sekai Kamiki."

Yang looked at the kit. "So, why'd she give you the Gundam?"

Well, she saw that I was getting interested in the hobby the more I watched you," Blake said. "I think she gave it to me to practice with. But I don't know the first thing about Gunpla Battles, and I don't want to damage it because I wouldn't be able to fix it…"

Ruby smiled. "Ah! Then…here!"

She walked over to the shelf above her and grabbed her own 00 Qan [T, handing it to Blake. "Practice with mine! I don't mind, and that way, you can learn how to control a normal machine before you get involved with gimmicks and stuff!"

"I-" she looked at the Gundam, hesitant. "What if I break it?"

"Then you fix it, silly!" She shoved the basic Qan [T] into Blake's hands. "00 kits are pretty cheap, so it's easy to get extras for parts. Yang and I can help you learn the controls."

"Well...I have been practicing with my own kits at the arcades," Blake admitted, "fighting against the new AIs. But because I'm still a rookie builder, my kits aren't that good. I've beaten the matches, but my kits end up getting trashed. I have so many that are basically useless now."

Ruby shook her head. "Even a destroyed kit isn't useless. You could take some of the parts and turn them into extra armor or use a 3D printer to melt them down so you can make new parts. It's like the Third Meijin Kawaguchi says-Gunpla is freedom!"

Blake giggled. "That's so corny…"

"And yet, so true," Yang admitted. She attached the first arm of Shining Gundam to the shoulder of Duel Gundam and stuck it onto the body. "Welcome to the nerd club, love."

There was a knock on the door, and their dad came in. "Girls? I have some letters for you two."

Blake gave him a warm smile. "Hello, Mister Xiao Long."

"Just call me 'Tai,' Blake," he replied with a laugh. "You've been around here long enough, you don't need to be so formal."

Yang and Ruby both took the envelopes from Tai, opening them quickly. Ruby grabbed the letter inside but failed to notice two slips of paper fell out of the envelope. Blake bent down to pick them up as the sisters read their letters.

Yang's jaw hit the floor. "What?"

"No way!" Ruby exclaimed.

Blake read the paper she picked up. They were tickets. "These are…"

"We just got invited to the World Championship!" Yang and Ruby shouted together.

Tai blinked. "In Japan?"

"Yeah! In two months', time! in July!" Ruby showed him the paper. "AND we're invited to the World Tag Team Tournament, too, with the ability to select one person as our partner!"

Yang grinned excitedly. "Well, I know who I'm inviting…" she looked down at Blake, who glanced up at her.

She had a confused expression, but slowly realization set it. "Wait. No! I can't compete against world-class fighters! I'll wreck Shia's Gundam for sure!"

"Aww come on," Yang pleaded. "Your mom's always talking about going home to Japan and visiting family, and I know you wanna explore. You traveled with Jaune and Pyrrha all over Europe last summer to visit their homes in Paris and Sparta. Why not go to Japan next?"

Blake searched Yang's eyes, before sighing. Yang was right. But still…. "I'll just hold you back. You should choose someone else."

"Nope! My minds made up. And if we lose, we lose, but you'll still have all of Japan to explore. I was born in Kyoto, after all. I wouldn't mind taking a trip there. Maybe seeing my mom, if she hasn't become some recluse or something."

Tai gave her a concerned look. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Raven isn't exactly the most warmly welcoming of outsiders. Especially unannounced ones…"

"Relax, Dad. She and I have been talking a bit on Face space. It's fine." Yang gave him a smile, before turning to Ruby. "Any idea who you'd pick?"

Ruby's face was scrunched in concentration. "I'm not sure…but I need to finish my Gunpla first. I'll decide that after it's done. Otherwise, I'd have to enter a straight build, and that'll suck a lot of my performance out of me."

"Well, I guess it's settled," Tai said, shaking his head. "We're spending our Summer Break in Japan. I'll make the arrangements."

As he left, Ruby and Yang looked at each other. "Time to get to work," they both said together, returning to their desks with renewed vigor.

Blake looked down at the Gundam 00 Qan [T] in her hand. "I'll do my best, too," she said to herself. She wasn't going to let Yang down.


	2. Character Bio: Part 1

**Heya, everyone! ARC Alpha 12 here with a little note about the nature of some of these chapters. Not every chapter we release will be exclusively story-based. Since I will be mixing characters from Gundam Build Fighters, Build Fighters Try, RWBY, and JPDE together into this story, i figured I'd take the time to create some believable backstories for everyone (or in the case of the actual Build Fighters characters, a summary of who they are) for those who are coming in and aren't familiar with them. When it comes to the RWBY and JPDE characters, as one might imagine, every single character had to be rewritten from the ground up. ****These aren't Huntsmen and Huntresses in this series, they are normal people with a shared interest in Gunpla Battle. Because of this, I needed to redefine EVERYTHING about them, and that's what these short bios are meant to do! They will explain changes to their backstory and relationships with other characters, as well as providing some detailed descriptions of their Gunpla as they are introduced into the story.**

**Whenever a new character appears, expect some kind of short bio in a separate chapter. And, if they end up with new Gundams, their new machines will be added to let you know exactly what they are capable of. ****In regards to the Build Fighters characters, I am VERY well aware that not everyone has seen the two series that they come from. For those characters, I will provide a short summary of their relationships with other characters, as well as events that happened that shaped them into becoming who you'll see in the fan fiction. Doing this will help merge the RWBY characters more easily with the GBF characters, providing a more cohesive universe.**

**These bonus chapters also will sometimes contain polls to vote on-either in the comments or on the provided link for the Google Doc-that can determine the fight or scenario in the next chapter. I want fan submissions! Do you want to see Full Frontal's adaptive AI take on Blake in a training match? Or maybe Ruby versus Duo Maxwell's AI? Or perhaps Sekai Kamiki from Build Fighters Try challenge Yang to a duel? Or, instead of a fight, would you like to see Yang and Blake go on a double date with Nora and Ren? All of these and more can easily be included as additional chapters while I work on the main story and will help me engage with the audience.**

**Please don't forget to follow, fave and leave a comment on this story if you like what you see. We look forward to hearing what you have to say!**

* * *

**RUBY ROSE:**

**Height: 5'2"**

**Age: 15**

**Hometown: Portland, Oregon**

**School: Benjamin Franklin High School**

**Grade: Freshman**

Silver eyed Ruby is everything you would expect from a girl with hopes of being the best in the field of Gunpla Battles. Charming, adorable, friendly, hyperactive, and a quick-thinking genius, Ruby prides herself on her skills as a pilot and builder first and foremost. As the team captain to Team RWBY and leader of the tag team Ice Flower, Ruby shoulders a tremendous amount of responsibility, and takes it all in stride. Her happy-go-lucky nature, easy relatability, and love of the sport and its competitors make her a welcomed and enjoyable competitor in the field.

Ruby is the brains of Team RWBY when it comes to creating and upgrading Gunpla. As the best builder on the team and completely fascinated by the various Gundam anime that exist, alongside video games, side stories, card games, and everything in between, she is a walking encyclopedia of references to the franchise and can almost instantly identify the parts of any Gunpla she sees, as long as they haven't been too heavily customized.

**GUNPLA:**

**Gundam Crimson Strike Noir**

Ruby's first fully customized machine, the Gundam Crimson Strike Noir, or "Crim," as she affectionately calls it, is a kitbash between Strike Noir, Strike Rouge Ootori, and an SD AGE-2 Dark Hound.

The machine exhibits exceptional maneuverability in both space and atmosphere, and is outfitted with a wide range of weapons, including Strike Noir's beam rifle with a grenade launcher, twin linear beam cannons on the Noir pack, foot and backpack rocket anchors, railguns from Strike Rouge's Ootori backpack, twin-beam edge swords on the wings,, twin rocket anchors stored in the side skirts of the mech (which are actually modified shoulder wings from an SD AGE-2 Dark Hound), CIWS Vulcans in the head, and two Gouf Custom heat rods that replace the arm-mounted rocket anchors. Her primary weapon with this machine is a GM Striker's twin beam spear.

* * *

**BLAKE BELLADONNA**

**Height: 5'6"**

**Age: 17**

**Hometown: Seattle, Washington**

**Present Home: Portland, Oregon**

**School: Benjamin Franklin High School**

**Grade: Junior**

Blake is a quiet and reserved individual, typically viewed as generally unfriendly, curt, and unwilling to open up to many, though this could not be further from the truth. An avid activist, nature lover, and explorer of culture, Blake has traveled to various parts of the world to see everything she can each summer. Her mother, Kali Hironaka, hails from Japan, and Blake has always dreamed of exploring many of the areas there, though has not had the opportunity.

Blake is a closet nerd, and is just as happy reading a book as she is watching her girlfriend Yang build Gunpla. Though she has never openly expressed interest in the activity herself, when her family hosted a foreign exchange student, Shia Kijima, she was given the Gundam 00 Shia Qan[T] as a thank you gift. Shia explained that the Gunpla means something special to her, and that the bond she and Blake forged during her stay in the US was very meaningful to her. Yang has slowly been getting her to open up on building kits, and she has found it oddly relaxing and enjoyable, though she is still a novice.

Blake has been given the nickname "kitcat" by Yang due to her practically living in her black cat-eared hoodie, black cat-eared beanie, or shirts with cute cat cartoon faces on them.

* * *

**YANG XIAO LONG**

**Height: 5'8"**

**Age: 17**

**Hometown: Kyoto, Japan**

**Present Home: Portland, Oregon**

**School: Benjamin Franklin High School**

**Grade: Junior**

The Blonde Bombshell, the fighting machine, the knock out punch. Yang has been described as all of these and more. Charismatic, fun loving, adventure seeking, and flirtatious, Yang is as formidable as she is beautiful. Deeply in love with Blake, Yang is the heaviest hitter of the team. She is a martial arts expert who has been training all of her life with her father Taiyang. Yang has only been building Gunpla for about a year, but has already become very, very good, dedicating herself to the hobby.

Despite being a complete novice with basic controls, the Mobile Trace system allows her to use her Gunpla with the same precise movements she has. She has broken many Gunpla practicing the design of the joints and stress levels, perfecting the most suited machine to use in Gunpla Battle that best expresses herself.

**GUNPLA:**

**Burning Gundam Echelon**

Created using parts of the Shining Gundam, God Gundam, Duel Gundam, and the head of Nobell Gundam, Burning Gundam Echelon is a perfect close-quarters martial arts machine. With the help of Ruby, Yang originally created the machine using Duel Gundam's chest, hips, and shoulders, Shining Gundam's arms and backpack, God Gundam's shoulder Gatlings, legs, fists, and Nobell Gundam's head, but has since tweaked it with custom joints, new armor plating, shotguns in the Shining Gundam wrist bracers, and additional shin and kneecap armor. Due to Nobell Gundam's head, Burning Gundam Echelon has access to the same berserker mode Nobell Gundam is known for in Mobile Fighter G Gundam, and is triggered by Yang's own emotional state-usually, her anger.

* * *

**TAIYANG XIAO LONG**

**Height: 6'2"**

**Age: 38**

**Hometown: Portland, Oregon**

The second generation of immigrant martial artists from China, Tai was always the calm but fun loving prankster amongst his peers. Even as an adult, Tai prefers to live according to the now, easily teasing his daughters Ruby and Yang and generally preferring to be the friend rather than the father now that his daughters are in high school. Despite this, he maintains a strong sense of discipline, understanding there is a time for fun and a time for focus, a principle he has done well to especially impart onto his oldest, Yang.

Tai's relationship with Yang's mother Raven Branwen is somewhat strained. Raven left shortly after Yang was born, disappearing for years to return to her homeland of Japan, leaving Tai to raise Yang on his own. His best friend, Summer Rose, stepped up, and the two eventually fell in love and had Ruby, though they never married. While the two don't see each other often, due to his teaching job and her job as an international referee for the Gunpla Battle Committee, which takes her around the world, the two are very close, and over the years, have done their best to bring Raven back into the fold to reunite their family.

Tai proves to be very supportive of his daughter's goals and dreams, personally training Yang in the same martial arts he learned from his own father, as well as regularly helping both girls study. Though he has very little interest in their hobby of Gunpla Battles himself, Tai does openly support both of their love for the sport, and could not be prouder that Ruby and Yang both made it to the finals of the Northwest Regional Championships. Seeing Yang use his martial arts techniques has also spurned a desire to learn more about it, as he feels it would bring him closer to both of his daughters, as well as Summer.


	3. Party Of Eight

**Author's Note: Hello everyone, this is ARC Alpha 12 here! And I just wanted to thank you all for the kind words and support that I got from Chapter One. It really meant a lot to me that you all were so excited to read this story!**

**As promised, here is your monthly upload of RWBY Gundam Goodness, just in time to celebrate the release of Volume 7! ****Please don't forget to follow, fave and leave a comment on this story if you like what you see. We look forward to hearing what you have to say. **** I'd answer a couple of them now but...well, this chapter will answer them for me. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Class had just ended. Mister Oobleck was busy rapidly packing his things to head home for the day. Ruby sat, staring at the white-haired girl in the seat in front of her. She was busy reading a book at her desk, and as class ended for the day and people began filing out of the room, both her and Ruby remained seated. Ruby was leaning in, staring at the back of her head, chewing on her lip and thinking. She tapped her pencil anxiously against her knuckles.

The other girl sighed. "Ruby, your tapping is breaking my concentration."

"Did you get my message?"

"Yes…." The tone the girl had was one filled with annoyance.

"And?"

"And what?" she turned around and looked at Ruby, her icy blue eyes meeting earnest silver. "Did you honestly expect me to take you seriously?"

"Weiss, come on! It'll be fun!" Ruby smiled at her, excited. "Just think about it! You'd be able to go to Japan, and-"

"Here, let me think," Weiss replied, cutting her off. "Hmm... no, I don't think so." She turned around and resumed reading her book.

"But Weiss! I need a partner for the Gunpla Battle Tournament!"

Weiss spun around and gave her a cold glare. "Keep your voice down, you dolt!" she hissed. "Do you honestly expect me to participate in a battle of...toys?" She looked around at the last remaining students, who were gathering their books. Ruby thought she looked a bit paranoid. "Just drop it, okay?"

Ruby looked at her, dejected, but nodded. She sighed. "Okay…"

"Why don't you ask Jaune, or Pyrrha? Or Ren?"

"Well I did," Ruby said. "But it turns out, all of them got invited too, thanks to their high placings in Regional's or winning other events." She pulled out her note to show Weiss. "They all got this."

Weiss took the note and read it. "Ruby, this isn't an invitation to the World Championship, this is an invitation to _compete _to be in it! The tickets are for the Tag battle, but for the Singles Championship you have to qualify by competing in a series of exhibition matches."

"O-oh…"

She gave her a look. "You didn't even fully read this, did you?"

"No...I guess I got too excited…" She looked at her desk and rubbed the back of her neck.

Weiss waited until the last student got up and the classroom door closed. She spun around and leaned in to whisper. "So, tell me the details."

Ruby looked up, startled. "What?"

"The Tag Tournament, you dunce! Tell me what it's all about!" She had an enthusiastic grin as she read over the paper again. "It doesn't specify."

"But, I thought you didn't want to do it." Ruby gave her a confused look. "You just said-"

"I said that to keep people from thinking that I like fighting with toy soldiers," Weiss shook her head. "With a family as rich as mine, it's hard enough to try and just be a normal kid going to public school instead of a private one. The last thing I need is to get harangued about liking model kits and fighting in a nerd's sport. Even if I DO enjoy it."

"Weiss, you shouldn't have to hide what you like to do." Ruby gave her a reassuring smile. "If someone wants to be a butt about it, let them. Don't let them kill your love for things or hide it just because they are mean."

"Assholes, you mean," Weiss corrected.

"Hey, swear jar." Ruby reached into her bag and pulled out a tiny mason jar with a few nickels in it.

"Wait, you actually carry around a swear jar?" Weiss raised her eyebrow.

Ruby giggled. "Yang owes me fifteen cents. C'mon, pay up."

Weiss scoffed. "You're impossible." She reached into her pants pocket and pulled out her coin purse, depositing a nickel into the jar. "There, you happy?"

Ruby smiled. "Yup! Now, about the Tag Team Tournament. It's a two-v-two competition. Anyone who qualified for the Regionals in their areas is eligible. So I'd bet we'll see a lot of really tough teams there."

"How do they manage so many teams?" Weiss asked. "That seems like a ton."

"Well, they hold preliminary battles to eliminate all but the top eight teams, I think."

"Ah, so it's similar to the Singles bracket, but that one only went out to the Final Two of each Regional or National competition, thus narrowing the field by quite a bit." Weiss nodded. "Alright. That means I won't be able to fight in the World Championship, then."

"No, you can," Ruby smiled. "The winning team of the Tag Tournament will be both eligible for the Singles fight. Meaning if we win the Tag Championship…"

"I'd get a spot in the Prelims of the Singles Tourney…" Weiss's mind began to race. "It also means there's a chance the Tag Champions could fight each other."

"Yup! But that's a chance I think we should take."

Weiss smiled. "Okay. I'm in. I'm intrigued by this."

"Sweet! Yang and Blake are entering too." Ruby bounced in her chair. "This is gonna be awesome!"

"Blake plays, too?" Weiss asked curiously. "I'm surprised. She doesn't seem the type."

Ruby smiled. "She's curious because Yang's into it. She doesn't play much, and she's still a noob at building, but she'll get better. What she really needs is a place to practice."

"Hmm... I might be able to help with that." Weiss looked at the clock. "Have the girls meet up with you and come to my house in three hours. I'll explain more then."

* * *

The Alameda Heights area of Portland was one of the richest and most confusing areas in Oregon's largest city. Yang, Blake, and Ruby felt horribly out of place among the sprawling, confusing, twisting roads and gated communities, and it took a long time to find the Schnee residence.

Ruby has only been to Weiss's house once, and she had been driven there by Weiss's butler. This was the first time they had to walk there, and boy, was it an ordeal.

The house, if you could use the term, was gigantic. The gate that separated them from the front yard, which had to be at least a full acre in and of itself, was equally impressive. An intercom sat at the gate's brick support, clearly meant to be how someone got the attention of anyone inside.

Ruby cleared her throat and took a step towards the gate. She pressed the button awkwardly, leaning in to speak into the microphone. "H-hello? Weiss? It's Ruby."

There was a pause, followed by a pleasant-sounding British man on the other side. "Ah, Miss Rose. Miss Schnee is expecting you."

"Klein! Hello!" Ruby said happily. "It's good to see you again! Or...hear you, I mean. Heh."

"And likewise, you, Miss Rose. One moment. Your other friends are already here."

Ruby looked over at the others. Weiss hadn't told her that there would be others.

The gates opened, and the girls walked up the pathway to the estate.

"Damn. Weiss's home is beautiful," Yang said, admiring the area around them. "I bet her Grandpa could probably afford something even bigger, though."

"He probably likes simple." Blake was overwhelmed by the sea of pretty flowers on either side of her, lined with small trees on its outskirts. The fragrances made her feel at ease, and she drew her cat eared hoodie's hood up off of her hair. She smiled happily as they walked. This was nice. She grabbed Yang's hand and squeezed it tightly, and she squeezed back.

The front door opened as the mustached, balding man with hazel eyes and a warm smile greeted them. "Welcome, Miss Belladonna, Miss Rose, and Miss Xiao Long, to Nikolas Schnee's home. Miss Schnee is in the parlor room, overseeing her other guests."

"Heya, Klein," Ruby greeted cheerfully. "Um…what other guests? Weiss didn't tell me about anyone else coming."

"They are from the Multicultural Club, I believe," Klein replied. "One Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren."

"Oh!" So, Team Juniper was here. Ruby smiled. "I didn't know they were coming!"

"They come here regularly, actually," Klein said. "They practice their Gunpla Battle skills on Miss Schnee's system."

All three girls stood there, stunned. "Wait-_they_ knew Weiss likes Gunpla before we did?" Ruby felt betrayed. Her best friend confided her secrets in others before her? How was this possible?

"Follow me, and I will take you to the gaming gallery." Klein turned and headed inside. Yang stared at the massive atrium, the polished checkerboard floor and mahogany walls intimidating her.

"Wait, Weiss has a game gallery?" she asked. "What the actual hell, man?"

"I didn't know!" Ruby replied. "Last time I was here, we just hung out in her room. Which is, like, the size of our living room."

They walked into the atrium and looked around at the paintings. The robust and portly Nikolas Schnee was displayed prominently. Only one picture of his son, Jacques, was on the wall, and it was only in a photo of him and Nikolas meeting for the first time at a business event. The elder Schnee was very open about the fact that he did not enjoy Jacques or his business shark attitude, or the fact that he had changed his name when he married into the family. It had been why his daughter Willow and his granddaughters Winter and Weiss had left California to be with him over Jacques.

Ruby pitied Weiss. Her friend had grown up in the lap of luxury, but it was a gilded cage. Even away from Jacques' influence, the Schnee name carried with it a connotation of pompous arrogance. Weiss was used to playing that role, but she was happy to have people that she could just be her real self around. And Ruby was glad to be one of those people.

Klein pushed open a pair of large doors, and inside, an assortment of video games, televisions with consoles, tables, and seats sat. But the thing that drew their attention for real was the ten-person Gunpla Battle table that sat at the center. Weiss was leaning against a wall, watching them with crossed arms and a smile, as Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora practiced in their respective holographic cockpits.

Weiss turned and smiled at the newcomers. "Thank you, Klein," she said pleasantly. "Welcome, girls. I'm glad you could make it."

Klein bowed respectfully, before stepping aside and allowing the other three to enter. Their eyes were wide as they looked around. This was like heaven.

"Alright!" Yang cried out happily, a massive grin on her face. "Now THIS is what I call a party room!"

"It is rather impressive…" Blake admitted, pushing a strand of hair out of her face.

"WEISS! How could you hide this from me?" Ruby asked in despair. "You totally could have showed this off last time!"

Weiss scoffed. "And you would have spent the entire time in here." she rolled her eyes. "I wanted to spend time and talk with you, not watch you play video games until the joysticks fell off."

Ruby chuckled nervously, then took a step towards the table. "Klein mentioned they come over all the time to practice. How come they knew before I did that you had this?"

"Ruby, stop being jealous," Weiss sighed, exasperated. "I simply wasn't ready to reveal it to you guys yet. If I had, I knew you and Yang only would want to hang out with me to use the table to practice. You two are extremely enthusiastic about it."

She looked at the table. "The Multicultural Club comes to my place once a week to meet. Even though I was born here in the states, my parents are both immigrants, and I enjoy representing my cultures. The table is just what we use as an after-club activity. It started out as fun, but all four of them are seriously good. So, I told them about the Tag Tournament, and it lit a fire up under them. It seems Pyrrha and Nora also got invitations due to winning some other official tournament a while ago."

"Oh…." Ruby looked at the far wall. Sitting in the middle of it, with a pair of arcade machines on either side, a built-in display case stood, filled up completely with models. It was massive, and Ruby approached it, walking past the fighting friends at the table to examine the kits inside.

Tiger and Panzer tanks, several sized replicas of the Red Baron's airplane, and a massive number of Gunpla from the Principality of Zeon, Neo Zeon, Sleeves, ZAFT, and Crossbone Vanguard kits sat, all of various sizes and skill levels. Ruby gasped excitedly, and Weiss walked over to her, smiling proudly.

"They're so good!" Ruby fawned. "The quality, the weathering, the paints...these are all top notch!"

"Grandpa Nikolas made sure that I was well supplied with kits. I was told I needed to try all kinds. It was kind of a stress relief. And Klein helped me perfect them once I got good enough for detailing."

"There are hundreds of kits in here!"

Weiss nodded. "I'm under a lot of stress." She looked at the case as Yang walked over to join her sister. Blake headed to the table and watched the other four practice. "There's about four hundred kits in there."

"F-f-f-four hundred?!" Ruby exclaimed, shocked.

"Wow, someone who has more than Ruby. I'm impressed," Yang noted jokingly. "You're really a _kit _above the rest, Weiss Cream!"

"Yang, don't ruin this for me!" Ruby groaned as Weiss facepalmed. Yang snickered and crossed her arms. Ruby scanned the case again, noticing something odd. "Do you really like Gyans, or…."

She looked at the middle shelf's right side. The regal French Knight-looking Zeon Gunpla stood like a mechanical suit of armor, in rows of three. They had so many variants, some customized, some repainted, some were just different stock variations. There were about eighteen in total, but the last five were the ones that caught Ruby's attention the most. They appeared to be prototypes for a customization.

"Ah." Weiss walked over to that side. "Yes, I had decided on the Gyan to be my main customized mobile suit. Specifically, the Gyan Krieger. I used these kits to practice, so I could memorize its design characteristics and learn to easily modify it.." She smiled fondly as she opened the case and retrieved a customized Gyan, holding a Dom's Giant Bazooka and a standard Zaku hand shield. Its limbs and head were painted in green, with the body, kneecaps, and feet in a deep forest green. "I poured a lot of time, and more than a little bit of blood from exacto knife cuts, into these kits, to perfect the design."

She looked up at Ruby and smiled. "Fortunately, I did just that. And it'll be what I use in the tournament."

Yang whistled as Weiss put the model back and closed the cabinet. "Ooooo... So, we get to see it today?"

Weiss nodded. "Gimme a second. I know you girls destroyed each other's mechs in the tournament. Feel free to grab any of the mechs out of there to use today."

"Nah, I got my own," Yang said, pulling out a completely rebuilt Burning Gundam Echelon. "I finished it yesterday. I really just needed to mod a Duel Gundam body. I have plenty of arms and legs laying around."

Ruby opened the case and grabbed one of the ZAFT kits, Lunamaria Hawke's Gunner ZAKU Warrior, and carefully removed the backpack from it. Weiss grabbed a black leather case, and watched as Ruby grabbed another ZAKU, Heine Westenfluss's Blaze ZAKU Phantom, and removed its backpack, placing it onto the back of the red ZAKU Warrior. She set the orange ZAKU Phantom back onto the shelf and pulled out a pencil pouch from her pocket, removing a small black and red rifle and placing it in the hand of the ZAKU Warrior.

Yang looked at it. "Oh, you finished it!"

"Yup!" Ruby grinned. "I managed to piece it together last night. I just needed to make a latch for it to stay closed. Now, it should hopefully work. I already wrote the code for it into my GP Base.

Weiss smirked. "You dork," she said affectionately, before opening the black case. Inside of the felt-lined carved foam, a highly decorated and ornamental Gyan Krieger sat. White, with a metallic icy blue secondary and a black and white Sleeves motif inspired by the famous Sinanju, the Gunpla was one of the most beautiful things Ruby had ever seen.

"HOLY WOW!"

"Allow me to introduce you to my partner, the Gyan Noblesse Oblige," Weiss presented proudly. "This is the culmination of the hard work and pain I went through to perfect the building of the Gyan. I custom built the shield; I wanted a smaller one to reduce weight, so I took an SD Gyan's shield and basically recreated it in a 3D printer. The sword is a highly customized rapier from the Gundam Rose. I also modified a Gelgoog High Mobility Type's backpack. I figured it might have higher thruster output than the Gyan Krieger."

"The motif is so perfectly aligned, you'd think that it came with the suit!" Ruby looked at her friend in shock. "I can't believe how good this is."

Weiss picked it up and waved it in the air, a mischievous look on her face. "Want to join the fun?"

"YES! Blake! Get your Gunpla!" Ruby said, running over to the table and activating the holographic cockpit. She looked to her right, where Jaune glanced at her and smiled.

"Finally decided to join in?" Jaune asked. His French accent always made Ruby smile. She liked listening to him talk, with an accent that made him sound romantic, even if he was one of the biggest dorks she had ever met.

"I'm SO STOKED!" Ruby said as she grinned.

"NEW COMBATANTS," the computer announced as Yang, Blake, and Weiss joined Ruby. "COMBAT PAUSED."

"So, what have you guys been doing?" Yang asked.

Pyrrha looked over at the blonde. Her Greek accent flowed subtly in her words. "Mostly just practicing team moves. We weren't planning to fight today."

"That just changed," Yang said. "Reset yourselves and let's go!"

"FIELD RESET. DAMAGE LEVEL SET TO C. PLEASE SET YOUR GP BASE," the table asked, and Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Blake placed their bases down.

"Dette blir morsomt!," Nora yelled excitedly. Most of the table looked over at her, confused.

"Nora, English," Ren reminded.

The ginger Norwegian blushed and chuckled. "Sorry! I said 'this is gonna be fun!'"

"BEGINNING PLAVSKY PARTICLE DISPERSAL. FIELD 2, DESERT. PLEASE SET YOUR GUNPLA."

All of them reset their kits, placing them on the circle right in front of the GP Base. As they were scanned, the Plavsky Particles that the circle emminated activated all of their machines.

Jaune leaned over his light orbs. "Jaune Arc, Duel Cavalier Pale, launch!"

Ruby watched as Jaune's machine jetted forward. She recognized each part-the arms, legs, waist, and head came from the Pale Rider,, while the leg armor, shoulders, and backpack were from the Blu Duel Gundam. The body and shield was from the Duel Gundam Assault Shroud, so it could use the heavy cannon on its right shoulder. And, in what truly impressed Ruby, Jaune had modified the head to accept a GM Sniper II visor, which she had seen him use to enhance the accuracy of his shoulder cannon. Jaune skimped on the main weapon and shield, though; it still used Duel Gundam's basic equipment.

"Pyrrha Nikos, Tallgeese Leonidas, launch!"

The Tallgeese Pyrrha favored, painted in traditional Spartan bronze, red, brown, and white, shot off its launch pad. It used a normal Tallgeese shield, taken from the 1/100 kit so as to increase it's coverage. Ruby was most impressed by the powerful looking custom beam cannon Pyrrha had designed. It already had a beam saber in hand, since the cannon was mounted on a subarm, freeing her right hand up for melee combat.

Ruby looked to Ren, who was next to launch. The quiet Chinese student looked to Nora, making sure she wouldn't launch when he did, which would have caused the two to intercept and crash into each other. When he was certain she'd wait, he smiled. "Lie Ren, Gundam Lotus Dragon, launch."

The Altron Gundam EW/Dragon Gundam hybrid was an impressive machine, clad mostly in green and black, with gold accents. Ren had been crafting it for months, slowly designing it to perfectly fit his fighting style. Like Yang, Ren used the Mobile Trace system to best utilize his martial arts skills. Yang had been wanting to test her skill out against him for a while.

"Nora Valkyrie, Gundam Gusian Rebake Magnhild, let's go!"

Nora's bright pink, white, and black collage of the Gusion Rebake and Gusion Rebake Full City was as outlandish as it was powerful. She wielded a devastating explosive warhammer, complete with small rocket jets in the back to increase the force of her swing,, and had converted both of the arms on the back pods of the Rebake Magnhild into grenade launchers to make up for her lack of ranged weapons.

Blake watched the four relaunch with disbelief. "We aren't seriously going to do this, are we?" she asked. "Like, we don't have to announce ourselves, right?"

"C'mon, Blakey, it's part of the experience," Yang said, encouraging her girlfriend. "It helps you get into the mindset of things."

"It's embarrassing," Blake countered. "I can't imagine Weiss-"

"Weiss Schnee, Gyan Noblesse Oblige, launch!"

Blake blinked, taken off guard by the normally formal Weiss suddenly jumping into the fray like the others. Weiss gave Blake a satisfied look. "Sometimes, it helps to cut loose a little, Blake." She flashed a satisfied grin, before turning back to her display.

"Ruby Rose, Blaze ZAKU Warrior, launching!"

Blake watched as Ruby's stock-built ZAKU shot forward, flying effortlessly in the air as she barrel rolled, giggling the entire time. Ruby preferred SEED and SEED Destiny kits because most of them allowed for near-permanent flight. Few others outside of the Gundam 00 kits allowed this naturally.

Blake sighed. "Yang, et tu?"

"Yang Xiao Long, Burning Gundam Echelon, time to break some faces"

She sighed in defeat. "I'm going to die of embarrassment… Blake Belladonna, Gundam 00 Quanta, launch…."

Blake had outfitted her 00 Qan [T[ with a normal 00 Gundam GN blade, as Ruby had never actually finished the weapon set for the kit. Luckily, she was used to using Gundam Exia, which had basically the same weapon. She was also relieved that Weiss had set the damage level to C, which basically meant that, while pieces could be removed from the kit, the kits overall would not actually take real damage when the simulation was done, meaning she wasn't going to wreck Ruby's model.

The eight of them practiced for a short time, dodging and blocking attacks, though none of them were really wanting to fight each other.

This concerned Ruby, who sidestepped a slash from Blake and then stopped mid-air. "This isn't helping much," she noted. "Hey, Jaune!"

"Hein?" Jaune asked, looking up from his practice.

""You and Blake square off! She needs practice dodging things, and your Gundam is basically nothing but weapon spams!"

Jaune looked at Ruby, dissatisfied by that description. "Gee, thanks…."

Blake came down, hovering just above the ground. "Is that alright with you, Jaune?" she asked. "I'd appreciate it."

"Bien sûr, Blake. It's no trouble." He smiled and turned Duel Cavalier Pale towards her. "When you're ready."

"Alright, go!" The GN particles that made the 00 Qan [T] hover increased as the twin solar reactors increased their output, leaving sparkling green particles all around her, before she leaned forward and came at him.

Jaune responded by firing his shoulder cannon and beam rifle, both of which Blake effortlessly dodged. The missile pods on his shoulder opened and began firing small sidewinder missiles at her, causing her to begin a far more erratic flight path, forced into the air to dodge. Blake gritted her teeth as the missiles bombarded her.

She twisted around in the air, before flying downward, back towards Jaune, most of the missiles chasing her. He opened fire with the cannon again, which forced Blake to dodge. The cannon shot detonated some of the missiles, and Blake returned fire with the GN blade's rifle mode. Jaune blocked the first shot with his shield before hovering to a new location as Blake quickly dove at him, then pulled up, riddling the spot he was just in with the missiles he had fired at her.

Weiss watched and nodded. "You're better than I thought, Blake," she admitted. "That was a nice maneuver."

"I saw it on Dragonball Z when Goku fought Frieza. I thought the concept might work here."

"Well, it did. Good work."

Blake blushed at the praise. "T-thanks, Weiss."

"Hmmm... still, this isn't helping us too much. We need a bigger challenge."

Ruby landed next to her. "What kind of challenge?"

Weiss thought for a moment, before contacting her butler. "Klein, activate Operation: Cold Call."

"As you wish, Miss Schnee."

Yang and Ren paused from their spar and looked at her. "What's Operation: Cold Call?"

"NEW COMBATANTS ENTERED."

The entire field began to shake as the desert floor opened up. A large platform began raising from the ground, and all of the combatants paused to watch as two titanic machines raised from the ground.

Ruby's eyes grew wide. "Wait ...those aren't Gunpla!"

"What the crap?" Yang asked, shocked.

"Weiss, quels sont ces? (what are those?)" Jaune asked, eyes glued to the machines.

One was a giant, silver mechanical pterodactyl, the edges of its wings lined with sharp blades, and massive rocket engines on its back. But it was the second mech, a massive black, purple, and red mechanical scorpion, that had everyone's attention.

"Those...are Zoids! A Storm Sworder and Death Stinger!" Ruby called out. "But, how-"

The Storm Sworder screeched, a terrifying battle cry as it slowly began to wake up. Yang grinned.

"Now THAT'S more like it!" she said excitedly.

"I decided to try an experiment a while ago," Weiss admitted, a smug smile on her face. "Zoid model kits are made of the same plastic as Gunpla and tank or plane kits. So, I plopped my Command Wolf in here, and with a little recoding, it worked. I had myself a pet for my Gyan. So….I created a battle scenario for us, though I imagined it would only be four of us, not eight. So I upped the stakes a bit."

The Death Stinger began to slowly walk off of its platform, examining its surroundings. "Legally, in tournament play, Zoids are prohibited. But here...I thought we could have a little fun," Weiss admitted. She looked to Ruby. "Up to the challenge?'

Ruby stared as the two massive animal shaped machines began to move. And her eyes grew wider, and her smile got bigger. "Yeah. Let's break stuff!"


	4. Character Bio: Part 2

**KLEIN SIEBEN**

**Height: 5'7"**

**Age: 45**

**Hometown: London, England**

**Current Home: Portland, Oregon**

The butler to Willow Schnee and her father Nikolas, Klein has been a faithful and steadfast worker and family friend since before Willow's children were born. Choosing to remain with the actual relatives of the Schnee Company founder, when Willow separated from Jacques, Klein left with her.

An avid supporter and loyal friend to Weiss, Klein has always treated her as his own relative, truly believing that Willow and her family are as much his family as his own. He took care of Weiss and Winter when they were very young, often pretending to have multiple personalities to keep them on their toes and entertain them. As Weiss became interested in Gunpla, Klein learned the hobby as well and took to aiding her in combat training. As such, he is no pushover in a Gunpla battle himself, though he has never won a single match; whether this is intentional or not is up for debate, but he will give many individuals a run for their money, regardless of what Gunpla he pilots.

* * *

**WEISS SCHNEE**

**Height: 5'1"**

**Age: 17**

**Hometown: Hollywood, California**

**Present Home: Portland, Oregon**

**School: Abraham Lincoln High School (formerly), Benjamin Franklin High School (current)**

**Grade: Junior**

Weiss Schnee is the daughter of a rather influential and successful French businessman, Jacques Schnee. Her grandfather, Nicholas, started a trading company in Germany that has since expanded all over the world, and her father, who married into the Schnee family (and changed his name in order to gain more prestige from it) runs it with ruthless aggression. Weiss grew up always seeking his approval, which never seemed to come. While she initially built some fame as a child pop star, she ultimately left that life to try and be a normal kid, moving with her mother and sister to Portland to live with her grandfather and escape the oppressive expectations of Hollywood.

She originally went to the more affluent Lincoln High School, but transferred in her sophomore year to again escape constant social expectations. She met Yang and Blake early into her sophomore year, and through Yang, Ruby, who has become her best friend, even if she won't admit it outright. Through Ruby, Weiss has discovered her love of Gunpla building as a form of stress relief, though she has yet to admit this to any of them, out of fear of being criticized.

Weiss studies swordplay as a form of inspiration for her Gunpla's fighting style, choosing the refine the art of fencing and saber dueling. She herself is skilled in fencing, and this has helped her understand the Gyan's style of attack.

**GUNPLA: **

**Gyan Noblesse Oblige**

A customized Gyan Krieger, Weiss has poured time, heart, soul, blood, and money into perfecting this Gunpla's design. To make the design more elegant, Weiss has custom-made a Sleeves Neo-Zeon motif for the machine's chest, knees, shoulders, and wrists, and painted the machine stark white with an icy blue secondary, with the Sleeves patterns on black with white designs. Refined down to the very core, the Gyan Noblesse Oblige has gone through several iterations in order to best create the most flexible and potent offensive machine possible. Weiss has outfitted this mech with four white Rose Bits from the Gundam Rose, and primarily utilized an adapted Chevalier Rapier from the same Gundam Rose kit. The shield it uses is a small buckler, taken from a Gashapon HuZhen Gyan and customized slightly. It can still launch hide mines and fire pin missiles, but at a lower number compared to the standard Gyan shield. The design of the shield features a Sleeves motif, with a large snowflake painted onto the center, with each of the eight pin missile launchers at the tip of each spoke on the snowflake. A pair of chest-mounted vulcans for anti-missile defense, similar to the Zaku II Char Custom Origin Version, round out the weapons on the machine.

* * *

**JAUNE ARC**

**Height: 6'1"**

**Age: 17**

**Hometown: Paris, France**

**Current Home: Portland, Oregon**

**School: Grover Cleveland High School (Formerly), Benjamin Franklin High School (Presently)**

**Grade: Junior**

Born in France, Jaune comes from a massive family. He and his seven sisters moved to Portland after Nicholas Schnee, a family friend of the Arcs, offered his father a well paying job managing a shipping warehouse. Jaune still feels out of place in America, is constantly nervous, and worried that his accent will interfere with making friends. Despite this, he and Ruby hit it off immediately over their love of model kit building, though he preferred cars until meeting Ruby and Yang, who got him into Gunpla.

Jaune is still learning the concepts of Gunpla Battles, though he has taken Ruby's advice and begun studying various series religiously. The designs of a wide number of model kits stuck out to him, and he decided to compensate for his inferior skills with greater tactical awareness and support abilities. Because of this, he was chosen to be the team leader of Team Juniper, and act as leader of the tag team Arkos

**GUNPLA:**  
**Gundam Duel Cavalier Pale**

A hybrid of the Blu Duel Gundam, Duel Gundam Assault Shroud, and the Pale Rider, Jaune has decided that defense is the greatest defense, through and through. The white-with-gold-trim Duel Cavalier Pale (which means "Duel Pale Rider" in French) is heavily armored but equipped with so many small thrusters that it remains remarkably mobile. He has modified the head of the Pale Rider to use a GM Sniper II visor for him to scope out the battlefield and increase his shoulder cannon and missile barrage accuracy. The cannon has been moved closer to the head and has a new pop-out targeting screen for even further accuracy enhancement, giving Jaune unparalleled long range beam support for his partner and team. Aside from the shoulder cannon, the machine retains both Blu Duel's and Pale Rider's beam sabers (one per calf, one per hip), and the short-range beam cannons on the Pale Rider's forearms. Each shoulder contains short-range missile pods for added firepower. It retains the Duel Gundam shield for more direct defense. He uses a modified Duel Gundam beam rifle with a "clay bazooka" underslung on it, which fires an RPG that explodes on proximity to release a large spray of flak similar to a shotgun.

As an added note, The Pale Rider head grants Jaune access to HADES (Hyper Animosity Detect Estimate System) , which can analyze and enhance a pilot's speed and reaction time. In lore, this is done by increasing the pilot's neurotransmitters in their brain. Normally this would lead to gradual memory loss, but the effects are in no way problematic in Gunpla Battle due to the HADES System merely increasing response time and reducing normal lag, instead of directly affecting the brain. However, the caveat is that the HADES System can use up a machine's energy far faster, and on occasion, the machine might respond abnormally or without user input. The HADES System normally is manually activated, but it can activate by accident if the system detects a particularly high level of danger, and cannot be deactivated when this happens. In addition, the enhanced movement speed can cause severe strain on the machine due to the heavy armor used on it, so Jaune must be careful as to when to activate it (or be cautious when it is active to not overextend his Gunpla's joints).

* * *

**NORA VALKYRIE**

**Height: 5'2"**

**Age: 17**

**Hometown: Trondheim, Norway**

**Current Home: Portland, Oregon**

**School: Benjamin Franklin High School**

**Grade: Junior**

Nora is a powerful and athletic girl from Norway. A love of pancakes and an equal love for exercise dominates her time, and she rarely sits still. Her best friend, Lie Ren, seems to be the only person who can get her to focus long enough to actually do any kind of work. She didn't like building at first, but tinkering with her first kit, the Gundam Gusion, sparked something in her. She became obsessed with Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans kits, and especially the three Gusion units.

**GUNPLA:**  
**Gundam Gusion Rebake Magnhild**

A black, white, and pink customized version of the Gundam Gusion Rebake Full City mixed with the default Gundam Gusion Rebake, Nora has optimized the Gunpla for maximum damage output. The two sub arms in the backpack have been turned into grenade launchers, and a customized giant Warhammer with explosive blows replaces the Gusion Rebake halberd. To make the machine faster and more agile, she ditched the regular giant shields the Gusion Rebakes favored, choosing a smaller, custom forearm mounted shield for defense. The forearm mounted smoothbore cannons the Rebake Full City used are still present. Additional back leg armor with powerful thrusters was added to increase its speed and to allow Nora to hover across the battlefield with ease.

* * *

**PYRRHA NIKOS**

**Height: 5'7"**

**Age: 17**

**Hometown: Sparta, Greece**

**Current Home: Portland, Oregon**

**School: Abraham Lincoln High School (formerly), Benjamin Franklin High School (presently)**

Pyrrha is a fighting master. The true ace of Team Juniper, Pyrrha has won Gunpla tournaments all over Greece before coming to America. Humble, easily nervous, she mostly just wants to fit in with other students. Her popularity among the student body is undeniable, and it makes her uncomfortable that she is put on the pedestal that she finds herself on. Jaune has proven to be her best friend over the last year, both due to his similar feeling of not fitting in and because his longer-range style compliments her close range blitz attacks perfectly.

**GUNPLA:**

**Tallgeese Leonidas**

A customized Tallgeese I with Tallgeese III's face,, the Tallgeese Leonidas wears the vestige of Pyrrha's hometown's most famous hero. Clad in bronze forearms, helmet, chest, shield, boosters, and shins, with red feet, head crest, skirt, and white face, forearms, and thighs, the Tallgeese Leonidas features a redesigned helmet that resembles an ancient Corinthian helmet, longer neck for better head mobility, unique beam rifle mounted on a sub arm to free the machine's hands up, Pyrrha prefers using a physical kukri or the Tallgeese's beam saber for her weapon of choice. She opts to use the circular Tallgeese I's shield over the Tallgeese III for a greater fit to the theme, increasing its size and storing the kukri on the back of it for easy access

* * *

**LIE REN**

**Height: 5'5"**

**Age: 17**

**Hometown: Beijing, China**

**Current Home: Portland, Oregon**

**School: Benjamin Franklin High School**

**Grade: Junior**

An immigrant from China, Ren is an exceptionally quiet and modest individual, choosing to usually keep to himself. He tends to speak only when spoken to, or if he has something important to say. Due to this, he drew the attention of Nora, perhaps the most gregarious individual at the school. While she does seem to exhaust him, he openly admits that he hates it when she's not around. The two spend most of their time together, leading some to believe that they are dating, though Nora denies this adamently and Ren neither confirms nor denies it.

**GUNPLA**  
**Gundam Lotus Dragon**

The Xiaolin Monk Sai Saishi used the Dragon Gundam to great effect in Mobile Fighter G Gundam, and Chang Wufei piloted the formidable Altron Gundam in New Mobile Report Gundam Wing. Inspired by both of these remarkably similar units, Lie Ren has combined the Dragon Gundam with the Altron Gundam EW to create a new, powerful machine.

Using the Mobile Trace system, Ren uses his martial arts skills and the variety of pikes, sabers, and extendable arms of the Gundam Lotus Dragon to decimate opponents. He has added heavy machine guns to the clavicles of the machine, and it retains the potent, high-intensity fire that Dragon Gundam was capable of using. Gundam Lotus Dragon lacks serious ranged weapons, but its speed and balance have been refined to such a degree that Ren can close the distance between his target and him quickly, and can catch opponents off guard using his agility and extendable arms with their clamping dragon mouths.


	5. Initiation

**AN: Hello everyone, ARC Alpha 12 here! Thank you for your patience while you waited for the exciting conclusion to chapter 2! I have seen all the comments you've posted and I can tell that you are all rather excited for this chapter, so I hope that I don't disappoint!**

**RWBY Fans might already have a hint as to what might happen, based on the title and the very, VERY specific Zoids I picked out; I thought it was a fitting homage to the series while also mixing things up a bit in the Gundam Build Fighters universe. After all, why shouldn't things like Zoids be affected by the Plavsky Particles? And they serve as a hint for things to come-don't expect me to 100% play by the rules here. After all, the Zaku Amazing uses a cannon from a tank as a sniper rifle, meaning other kinds of model kits CAN be used in on the Battle Tables. So believe me when I say I'm going to have fun with that.**

**But that's for later. I'll let the speculation drive you nuts. For now: Zoids Vs Gunpla!**

**Please don't forget to follow, fave and leave a comment on this story if you like what you see. We look forward to hearing what you have to say!**

* * *

The Storm Sworder was starting its engines and preparing for take-off. The Death Stinger's massive pinchers snapped open and shut, and its tail began to slowly glow. It let out a loud, scratchy, threatening screech as the engines on the Storm Sworder ignited and it jumped, taking off into the air.

"Uh...so what do we do?" Jaune asked, backing up a bit, his shield raised defensively.

Ruby watched the Death Stinger. "Jaune, you take Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora, and focus on that thing. Blake and I can remain in the air indefinitely, so we can force the Storm Sworder into a fight with Yang and Weiss. Be careful of that tail cannon; it can fire a massive charged particle blast."

"Well, sort of," Weiss said. "I had to adapt their weapons to match stored Gundam ones, so it fires a blast equal to the Satellite Cannon on Gundam X, but that alone is still strong enough to completely destroy any Gunpla on a direct hit, so try not to tank it."

"That's not reassuring!" Jaune cried out as he looked to Pyrrha. "Okay, then we need to distract it or-"

"Look out!" Nora screamed. The tail cannon fired a titanic whitebeam, which shimmered in rainbow colors and carved its way across the desert floor, blowing every piece of rock away on contact. Jaune and Pyrrha dodged to opposite sides as the blast reached the end of the edge of the table and disappeared due to the lack of holographic projectors. The ground that was hit by the blast had turned to black glass.

"Ti diáolo? (What the hell?)" Pyrrha said, shocked.

"Oh, I should warn you all," Weiss said. "This operation has a B level of damage."

Blake shrank away a bit. "What does that mean?" she asked hesitantly.

"It means if we get hit, we'll take some actual damage," Yang said. "It won't outright destroy our Gunpla, but we might actually lose some parts. Level damage means realistic that's why Ruby and my Gundams got messed up so bad at the tournament. The Finals are always A level."

Ruby flew next to Blake. "Don't worry about that Gunpla, Blake. All the others are using their own custom machines, which are harder to fix, and I'm borrowing a Gunpla from Weiss, and she's willing to risk it for this. So just go all out and have fun, okay?"

Blake sighed. "I'll try-"

"Incoming!"

Weiss's voice snapped both Blake and Ruby out of their conversation, and both dodged up as the Storm Sworder flew at them, its wing blades extended and glowing hot. Both of them spun and opened fire, yellow beams from Ruby's custom weapon and pink from the 00 GN Sword's rifle mode impacting the exterior of the flying Zoid. Despite this, only small scorch marks appeared on its silver skin.

"We'll need to hit it harder and try to force it to lower so the others can take it out," Ruby said.

"But how? It's way too fast." Blake watched as the Zoid slowed itself and circled back around. It was, indeed, far faster than any of them.

"Storm Sworders are known for their speed, so we need to outsmart it. Let's fly lower and try to goad it down." Ruby grinned. "Maybe we can even have it fly into the Death Stinger's next tail blast!"

They dropped their altitude, which worked as well as Ruby had hoped. The Zoid dive-bombed them, forcing them to scatter, but the move had put them in range of Yang, who began firing Shining Shots from her Shining Gundam wrist gauntlets. The energy balls flew and slammed into the underbelly of the Zoid, again leaving minimal damage. "Oh this will be a treat," Yang said, now seeing why Weiss had wanted to test their skills with this.

* * *

Jaune hovered backward as the Death Stinger's pincer slammed into the rock. For a large machine, it moved remarkably quick, skittering across the desert with little issues. It fired several blasts from the side cannons positioned next to the Charged Particle Cannon on its tail.

Ren circled behind the Zoid, holding his Double Beam Trident in one hand and launching fireballs from one of the Dragon Gundam heads on his arms with the other. Aside from scorch marks, the damage done to the massive Zoid seemed to be nonexistent. He landed on its hull and stabbed the beam trident into the top of it, but had to jump as the tail slammed down on his position.

"I didn't expect the tail to be so flexible," Ren noted, landing behind the machine. "It's clearly been modified."

Nora fired her grenades at the legs of the Death Stinger, which did little except annoy it. It turned and swung its claw in a backhand swing at her, which she dodged as the blade on the back of the claw arm cleaved the air where she had stood. She brought her Warhammer down on the arm, which had enough force to push the claw into the ground, and the explosion she shot through the hammerhead sent Gusion Rebake Magnhild backward. She giggled gleefully as she landed next to Ren.

Jaune watched as he and Pyrrha fired their ranged weapons at its right side, watching it as it focused on Ren and Nora on its left. He looked over the machine, trying to place any weak point on it.

The Death Stinger turned their way and the claws swung at the two shielded Gunplas on its right. They backed up, then scattered as the large twin cannons on its back opened fire, its tail swinging upside down to fire its twin cannons there at Nora and Ren.

"It's tail is so flexible…" Jaune noted. "Too flexible…"

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked. "Do you have a plan? Our attacks aren't doing anything to it."

"I think so…" he looked at Ren and Nora. "Nora, help me distract it! Ren, Pyrrha, each of you targets the top two joints of the tail! Don't break them, just weaken them so they bend down further!"

"Right!" Ren replies, boosting over to leap at the tail. He twisted the pole of the double-sided beam trident, splitting it into two single-handed weapons. He brought each trident tip down on the plastic, slashing at it while he was in the air to soften the polycap that held the joint in place.

Pyrrha shot off to the left, circling the Death Stinger. She blocked a blow from its claw, which sent her flying backward, recovering in mid-air and opening fire with her beam cannon. The shots impacted on the top joint, which slowly began to warp from the heat.

Nora and Jaune skidded in front of the Zoid, blasting it with whatever they had. Nora's sub arms twisted backward and fired volleys of grenades at the mechanical scorpion, while Jaune released a series of missiles from his Gundam's shoulders. The explosions impacted relatively harmlessly against the machine's tough hide, but it was enough to draw the attention of the massive dual cannon on its back. It fired, forcing both of them to scatter, skating across the ground in opposite directions.

The first attack went as planned, but the Death Stinger soon turned its attention to the two assaulting its tail. Even after a second and third wave of explosives and cannon blasts, it seemed content to ignore Jaune and Nora.

"It's not working!" Nora cried out as she watched its pincers sail over Ren's head as he slid into a baseball slide to dodge. "What do we do?"

Jaune growled. He clicked on both orbs inside his cockpit, and a holographic window with a button appeared. "You help them. I'll get its attention."

"By yourself? Er du gal? (Are you crazy?)" Nora screamed.

"I don't know what you said, but I got this," Jaune said, nervousness radiating in his voice as he dropped his machine's gun and rifle and reached to his hips, drawing a pair of beam sabers. In his cockpit, he tapped on the button, and the vents, thrusters, and the visor of the Duel Cavalier Pale began to glow a brilliant red.

He boosted forward, hovering across the desert floor and launching himself at the face of the Death Stinger with two pink beam sabers blazing in his hands.

* * *

Blake turned when she saw a weird red glow in her field of vision and noticed Jaune's Gunpla was emanating a red, angry light. "Ruby, what happened to Jaune's Gundam? Is it going to explode or something?"

Ruby stopped firing at the Storm Sworder as it flew away to make another pass. "Hmmm? Oh! He activated HADES mode! It's a super mode his machine can use that speeds it up to make faster attacks and dodge easier!"

"Do all Gundams have that?"

"No, it's determined by the parts used," Ruby explained. "You have something similar called Trans-Am. It speeds you up and, with any 00 Gundam unit that has a backpack, or with 00 Quanta, it can even teleport! But it has a time limit, and using it too much could use up all your Gunpla's power until you've rested for a bit to regenerate the GN particles you use to fly and fire your weapons. It's good for ending a fight or countering a super mode your enemy might use, but you shouldn't rely on it. If you wanna use it, just click on both orbs at the same time."

"I see…"

Ruby turned and faced the flying Zoid, which was coming heading right back at them. "Blake, same as before! Let's get it lower to the ground!"

"Right." Blake opened fire, nailing the Zoid in the face, before diving low. Ruby flew down with her, opening the missile packs on the Blaze pack and firing. The small missiles riddled the surface of the machine with explosions.

"Weiss, are you ready?" Ruby asked, flying over her as the Storm Sworder started chasing her.

"Yes. I've got it this time." She raised the energy-coated rapier up in her left hand and jumped upwards, her thrusters easily taking her clear of the blades wing of the Zoid. She landed on its back drove the rapier directly into one of the engines of the silver mech, before withdrawing it and stabbing it again and again. With three sizeable holes in its armor, she raised her small buckler shield and fired a series of tiny hide mines. Normally, the Gyan used these for traps, but Weiss shot them directly into the holes of the engine, which caused a chain reaction and black smoke to begin fuming from the Zoid.

It screeched as if in pain as Weiss jumped off of its back. As she fell from the sky, several small, white funnels popped from her back and began circling her, firing yellow beams at the Storm Sworder.

Ruby flew closer to Weiss's Gyan. "Are those Rose Bits?" She asked, watching the white bits erratically dance through the air as Weiss landed gracefully.

"I thought they would match the distinguished elegance that was the Gyan Noblesse Oblige," Weiss admitted. "I could only fit five on the machine without a proper storage unit, but they are technically modified Sazabi bits, so they are larger and more powerful than the normal Rose Bits found on Gundam Rose."

Ruby watched as the bits shot forward, white roses dancing around their target while Yang fires more energy balls up at its stomach. It's dual pulse cannon dislodged and spun on a turret on its belly, returning fire and forcing Yang to abandon her perch as the rock she stood on was obliterated.

Blake flew over the machine and opened fire on its damaged engine, further destroying it. Flames now shot out from the exhaust port in the back, and the Storm Sworder's main attribute, its speed, was dramatically affected.

"Alright, it's on its deathbed." Ruby grinned. "Time to finish it off."

* * *

Jaune danced around the claws and cannon shots of the Death Stinger, effortlessly slashing at its thick armor with his twin sabers. He had amputated the spiked foot of the front leg on the left side and had left a trail of burning scars across the surface of the machine from his beam sabers. The Death Stinger could not keep up with his movements, swinging the backhand blades of its arms outward and attempting to slam its pincers into the Duel Cavalier Pale on multiple occasions. But Jaune was nothing but a red blur of pain as he fought it.

He looked at his machine's status. Normally, HADES mode wouldn't do much damage to his own machine, but the mode was never designed to be used with a machine as heavily armored as his. The stress on the joints meant that, if he didn't stop at some point, he would wreck his own Gunpla. But as long as he fought, Pyrrha and Ren could do their own work.

"Alright, I think that's enough," he called to his team as he brought the Duel Cavalier Pale to a stop and deactivated HADES. He fired his cannon a few times to keep attention on him, then resumed hovering at normal speeds at the scorpion. "Nora! When I say so, smash the tail with your hammer!"

Nora grinned evilly. "Gladly!" She replied, readying herself.

Jaune leapt into the air, preparing to stab the Death Stinger in the face with both sabers, but was caught suddenly by the left pincer, snatched out of the air. It began squeezing him, which sent alarms all across his HUD as he struggled to break free.

"Ren, Pyrrha, form up in front of it and fire! Ren, grab my rifle!"

Ren did as he was ordered, retrieving Jaune's beam rifle and sliding next to Pyrrha. Both of them opened fire on the scorpion's face, which drew the attention of its tail. The massive cannon inside began to charge, drawing in energy to prepare for another titanic blast.

Jaune waited, watched as it slowly gained power. "Nora, now!"

The Norwegian giggled maniacally as she shot into the air and brought the explosive hammer shot down on the charged particle cannon. The massive rainbow-colored beam fired, but rather than hitting the Lotus Dragon or Tallgeese Leonidas, it enveloped the head of the Death Stinger. Jaune boosted with every ounce of power in his Gundam, sending more alarms off as he freed himself just as the blast began to melt the claw he was in. The legs of his Gunpla were destroyed as he flew upwards, caught in the overwhelming heat of the cannon blast.

The cannon continued firing long after the Death Stinger collapsed, burrowing a hole through the desert. As it slowly subsided, the tail fell backwards, and the energy blast carved another path of destruction through the area before pointing to the sky. By the time the tail had hit the ground, the cannon had expended its energy, and the Zoid now lay, inert and headless.

Jaune came down hard but was caught by Pyrrha, who helped him avoid further damage to his machine. Jaune laughed happily. "c'était fermé (that was close)," he said as his team gathered around him.

* * *

Blake barely avoided the charged particle cannon shot as she launched herself at the Storm Sworder, attacking its wing joint. The Zoid spun, barrel rolling to remove the irritation from its back and slapping Blake down into the ground. She cried out as her platform violently shook, before opening her eyes.

She looked over her status screen and noted that her left leg was missing. She looked down; the blade of the Storm Sworder had severed it in the spin.

"Blake! Are you alright?" Yang called out, flying over to her and bending down to check on her.

"Yes, but Ruby's Gundam-"

"I can fix it," Ruby reassured her. "Now stand up and fight! We've almost got this!"

Yang stood up, fists balled. "I've had enough!" She cried out. The Storm Sworder moved in for another pass, and Yang rose to meet it. She boosted up to another large rock, the hair on her Gundam's head beginning to separate from the solid peace it normally was. Her machine flowed with power and a red aura radiated from it as she boosted again, prepared to punch the face of his monstrosity right off.

"Yang!" Blake cried out, watching as the Storm Sworder opened its beak to bite down on Yang. But Burning Echelon merely stopped it with one hand, standing on its lower jaw and punching shotgun blasts into its mouth.

"I! HOPE! YOU'RE! HUN! GRY!" She cried out with each blast, her teeth gritted in fury. The jaw joint buckled on the left side, and the Zoid began to careen into a cliff wall.

Yang heard Ruby call out and turned as alarms blared, warning her of the crash. One final blast blew the jaw hinge off, and she jumped, tearing the lower jaw from the head, which crashed to the ground. The Storm Sworder managed to recover its height enough to avoid completely slamming into the cliff, but it still skimmed it enough to bring the beast down.

"Weiss, Blake, use your bits to keep it down!" Ruby called out.

Blake returned to the air. She clicked on her left orb and cycled through the weapons, activating all six sword bits. She locked their target onto the Storm Sworder and sent them with the five Rose Bits to keep the Zoid on the ground. Between the beam blasts and the repeated multidirectional stabs, the Zoid could not fend off any proper assault, and the damage to its engine was causing it problems in getting airborne again.

"My turn," Ruby called out, rushing the heavily damaged Zoid. She clicked on her orb and selected her weapon's damage mode. The rifle began to transform, turning into a titanic physical scythe with a brilliant pinkish-red beam blade edge. She cried out as she swooped under the Zoid's neck and boosted upwards, hooking the scythe right at the neck joint.

"That's what she was working on?" Blake shouted in disbelief.

Yang calmed herself, coming out of Berserk Mode, and stood with a hand on her hip. "Always gotta be dramatic," she said with a lopsided grin.

Between the Storm Sworder's own engine and Ruby tugging on it, the Zoid began to lift into the air. Ruby clicked on both orbs and activated her own super mode, labeled SEED Factor, to enhance her machine's thruster output. The thrusters on the machine began to glow a potent, blinding silver, much like Jaune's red glow during HADES mode, and the thrust was enough to pick the Zoid up higher as the scythe cut deeper into its neck. Ruby roared, struggling to push her orbs forward to increase thruster output even more, but as she did, the scythe melted the Zoid's neck further.

A few more seconds, a few more meters into the air, and Ruby pushed her ZAKU Warrior to its maximum output. And with that, suddenly, the scythe cleaved the Storm Sworder's heads clean off. It came crashing to the top of the cliff, which gave way and caused it to tumble down to the floor.

Ruby abruptly went shooting high into the air, thrusters at maximum and enhanced with SEED mode, and no more resistance holding her back. She cried out in surprise but quickly slowed her acceleration, spinning around to counter her speed. She slowly flew back down and landed on the cliff, her scythe in hand, standing triumphantly.

The others looked up at her as she shone like a silver light against the blue sky.

"_BATTLE ENDED," _ the table announced, and the holographic world began to dematerialize. The Gunpla and Zoids on the table sat, several in pieces. The damage wasn't as severe as it had appeared in the hologram, thankfully, and Blake and Jaune easily reconnected their models' legs, putting them back to normal. The Death Stinger and Storm Sworder were the worst off, but even they seemed mostly fine.

"Wow," Blake said, examining the 00 Qan [T]. "The B damage level really didn't do much overall to the kit. It just looked worse in the match, huh?"

"Yeah, it's good for tournaments to have easy to repair damage," Yang said. "Just like we said!"

"Sorry we wrecked your kits, Weiss," Ruby said, looking sadly at the Zoids.

Weiss waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry. I can fix them. I have their blueprints in my 3D Printer for this exact reason. I just need a couple of days." She turned to the group. "But! What did you all think?"

"That? Was awesome!" Yang and Nora cried out together. They high fived each other with large grins on their faces.

"Splendid!" Pyrrha exclaimed. "I would love to do that again sometime."

"As would I," Ren added.

They turned their attention to Blake. She glanced around at all of them, feeling the sudden urge to pull her cat hoodie over her head. "What?"

"Did you have fun?" Ruby asked. She had a slightly worried look on her face.

Blake nodded, smiling slightly. "Yeah, I did. I was a little worried at first, but it was fun."

Weiss smiled proudly. "Good! Then it was a success." She looked at Ruby. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some kits to start repairing. Klein will get you all refreshments. I'll join you shortly."

* * *

The rest of the day was spent with the eight of them just relaxing. Klein had helped Yang and Ruby carry trays out to the others. Despite his protests about it being his job, the sisters insisted on helping, which only made the kind man smile in the end at their generosity.

Pyrrha and Jaune sat together, holding hands as they all talked about various topics. Once the excitement of the battle wore off, they had started off with how Jaune knew to attack the tail. Jaune merely shrugged.

"I didn't," he admitted. "It was just a guess."

"It was a damn good guess!" Yang said as she snuggled with Blake. "You going all psycho on that thing...didn't know you had it in you, Jaune…"

The blonde boy rubbed the back of his head and muttered something in French, which made Weiss raise an eyebrow. "Is that so?" She asked with a smirk, sipping on her tea.

Pyrrha looked at Weiss, confused. "Wait, what?"

"He said he was trying to impress someone," she replied, eyes closed and a confident look on her face.

Jaune blushed. "I forgot you spoke French. It's been a while since you responded."

"French and German," she said. "Grandfather is from Germany, my father is French. The others might be able to say coy things around me, but you are not safe, Jaune."

Pyrrha looked at Jaune. The two had only recently started dating, after dancing around each other for the entire school year. Before that, though, it was no secret that Jaune had, on many occasions, attempted to ask Weiss out. Despite their history, though, Pyrrha never once felt Jaune was actually talking about Weiss whenever a comment like that came out. In fact, she merely blushed. "Jaune…"

Jaune looked at her with a happy smile. Yang watched them for a moment, but when it looked like they were content to simply stare into each other's eyes, she sighed exasperatedly. "Just kiss already!"

The entire group erupted into laughter as Pyrrha and Jaune looked away, their faces almost as bright red as Pyrrha's fiery hair.

When the laughter subsided, a comfortable quiet fell over them. Ruby looked at all of them, wondering what they were thinking. "So….you guys decide on if you're joining the tag tournament?"

"I believe we are," Ren said. "Nora and I will be working together, as well as Pyrrha and Jaune."

"We still have a month or so before the tournament, right?" Yang asked. "You're not ready with your Gunpla yet."

"Yeah," Ruby said. "And I have a long way to go. But the hardest part was the weapon. Now that I know that Crescent Rose works, I can focus on the Gundam itself."

"You named that weapon?" Yang asked with a teasing grin.

"Hey, I worked for almost three weeks assembling that thing in a way that wouldn't break on us!" Ruby puffed her cheeks out. "It deserved a name!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "And what Gundam do you plan on giving Crescent Rose to?"

Ruby grinned. "I plan on merging Gundam Destiny with Gundam Deathscythe, the original version. With Crescent Rose in hand, it'll be the successor to Crimson Strike Noir. I'll be calling it Gundam Destiny Scythe!"

"A bit on the nose," Yang admitted, "but it has a nice ring to it. I can't wait to see what you come up with."

"It's got a long way to go before it's ready," Ruby admitted, "and I'll always love Crim, but if we are going to the world tournament, I need something better. Destiny Scythe will help me cut a path to victory."

"Hey, help _us," _Weiss reminded her. "I'm your partner here, remember?"

Ruby chuckled nervously. "Right. Sorry!"

"We won't make it easy on you," Ren commented. "If we face each other in the tournament, expect a tough fight."

"Yeah! We'll break your legs!" Nora added excitedly. "kom og skaff deg noen! (Come get some!)"

Ruby giggled. "Well, then we'll just have to see, won't we?" She asked confidently.

"Blake and I will be there too," Yang said. "I want a rematch! That little stunt you pulled at Regionals won't work on me this time."

Ruby nodded. "I know."

It was still a month away. But they all were dreaming of victory. Only time would tell if they could achieve it.


	6. Preparations

**AN: Hello everyone, ARC Alpha 12 here. Thank you once again for your patience! I know it's been another month, and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and New Years.**

**This chapter will be a bit of a change of pace from the last three. With things getting set up for the tournament talked about in the last three chapters, and with Ruby without a Gunpla, I think this is the perfect time for some world building and interjecting some canon elements of the Gundam Build Fighters universe into the story, to actually begin integrating the two on a more personal level. Expect to see some of the canon GBF characters pop up soon, along with some OCs Kyrus and I have come up with.**

**I look forward to your reactions and reviews, as always. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Ruby balanced a pencil under her nose, lost in thought. The design premise of Destiny Scythe was coming along nicely, and she knew she'd be keeping the overall motif of both Deathscythe Hell Custom and Destiny by just combining the two; the kits, while needing some modifications, overall looked fairly similar when painted the same. Ruby's computer had rendered a perfect 3D image of the prototype design; the trick was modifying it to accept the mismatched parts.

She already decided to ditch the heavy anti-ship sword Destiny carried. Between her new transforming beam rifle/scythe Crescent Rose, the beam sabers Destiny came with, the twin beam spear she salvaged from a spare GM Striker as a backup, though in retrospect, that seemed redundant since she had Crescent Rose for that. She, at least for now, kept the powerful heavy beam cannon. She was ditching the shoulder beam boomerangs of Destiny in favor of the extra boosters on Deathscythe's shoulders, for added speed and mobility, and with Destiny's backpack, she'd have access to the Wings of Light, which would make her even faster. Plus, as a last resort, she did have the two point-blank beam cannons in the palms of her hands, the Palma Fiocina cannons, though they needed to be far too close to be relied upon. Still, and option, plus Vulcans and-

"-and now we have an update on the National Championships from around the world!" The announcer, Lisa Lavender, cut in, shocking Ruby out of her thoughts. She looked over, taking an interest in what was going on. While she had qualified for the Nationals, sadly with Crim destroyed and Destiny Scythe still only a quarter of the way done, she was unable to fly to New York to participate.

"With the Canadian Championship happening tomorrow afternoon between Evelyn Damerot and Penny Polendina, Gunpla Fighters wait with bated breath to see one amazing and highly energetic battle," Lisa reported. "However, today, we crowned the new United States Champion, Coco Adel, who pulled out an impressive victory against six-time former United States Champ, Greco Logan."

On-screen, she watched as the Northeastern Champ, Coco, faced off against the former US Champion and current Midwestern Champ. Greco was using his always-trusty Tallgeese Valkyrie III, a heavily remodeled version of the same suit he won the Nationals with nearly eight years prior. Coco, on the other hand, had him completely outclassed.

Ruby sat up and took note of Coco's machine. A grand majority of the unit was based on Gundam Heavyarms Custom; its shoulders, chest, and leg missile pods were clearly identifiable, but the arms, legs, and waist actually came from a Blue Destiny unit. Same with the backpack. The machine's colors were similar to the classic Gundam Heavyarms, redder and macaroni and cheese yellow than the standard blue and teal from Endless Waltz, with the white parts painted a gunmetal grey. It used a standard 100mm machine gun used by machines like the Ground Type Gundams in it's right and had a shield from them too, painted red to match the classic Heavyarms look, and had a beam saber on its forearm instead of the combat knife. A massive custom black and gold Gatling Gun in its left hand completed its loadout. The amount of firepower this machine had was almost overwhelming.

The head caught Ruby's attention most of all, though-much like Coco was known for wearing her shades almost constantly in fashion shows and interviews, the Gundam spotted a dark piece of clear plastic over the eyes. Upon closer inspection, Ruby noticed the dark visor actually had an advanced HUD and targeting display on it, likely helping Coco conserve ammo and making her shots more accurate. Or that was her thought, initially, until she watched how quickly and easily she mopped the battle table with the Tallgeese Valkyrie.

"Holy cow! Is she using a Zero System with that?" She asked out loud. She watched the slow-motion replay of the final few seconds, as Coco's leg missiles impacted the ground and forced Greco up into the air, and right into the torrent of beam Gatling blasts that ultimately crippled his backpack and dropped him like a swatted fly. A torrent of bullets and beams finished him off as the chest of the Gundam opened up to unload its four additional Gatlings, the giant Gatling, and the machine gun on the hapless mech.

"Miss Adel, would you like to make a statement to the people who watched your spectacular victory today?" Lisa asked in the previously recorded interview.

Coco toyed with the single lock of hair, dyed slightly lighter at the tip, that hung down below her chin. "You know, there were a lot of really skilled opponents today. A lot of young up and comers, and a lot of powerful vets. And I give Greco props. The man-made it to the Finals using tried and true tactics, and he is as deserving as anyone to take home this title. But, in the end, I walked away with it. Gundam Heavyarms Gianduja and I have been working our way up, and we are happy to have gotten this far.

"There were a few people who couldn't make it for this, like the girl who won the Northwest Championship, and to those who missed out, here's what I have to say: bring your A-Game to the World Cup, cause Coco Adel is looking to sip that sweet taste of victory from it."

Ruby nearly toppled, almost as if Coco's words almost floored her, before screaming. "AAAAAAAHHHH!" She shrieked. Was this really happening?

Tai came bursting through the door. "Ruby! Are you okay? Is it a spider?!"

Ruby was dancing up and down, incoherent in her excitement. She pointed at the TV. "Coco Adel mentioned to me!"

Yang appeared behind her father. "That fashionista? Why?"

"She just won the US Championship and she called me out specifically!" Ruby grabbed her remote and rewound the clip. Once Coco said her challenge, Ruby pointed at the screen. "See?!"

Tai facepalmed. "Oh Ruby…" he chuckled.

"Wow, my little sis is famous," Yang said with mock jealousy. "Maybe her senpai will notice her at the world tournament."

"Hey! You leave Ricardo Fellini out of this!" Ruby blushed, glancing at the poster she had of Ricardo and his Gundam Fenice Rinascita on her wall. And then of her computer wallpaper, which had his old machine, the Wing Gundam Fenice, posing with both sets of wings extended. It was a stylized retelling of Wing Fenice's fight against Star Build Strike and the Seventh Gunpla Battle Tournament champions Sei Iori and Reiji's Star Build Strike Gundam, Ruby's all-time favorite fight in all of Gunpla Battle's history.

The realization that she _might _have a slight obsession with the Italian Dandy made her blush as red as her hoodie. Yang just grinned.

"How goes the new kit?" she asked, seeing the small render spinning in the corner of her desktop screen.

"Huh?" Ruby looked at her desk. "Fine. Now that I have the colors and the idea for it I just need to do some quick changes to make parts compatible. The polycaps for Destiny and Deathscythe aren't completely interchangeable. I'll need to fix that before I can assemble the Gundam."

"You know I have no idea what you just said," Yang admitted, shrugging.

"The polycaps. The rubber pieces!" Ruby replied. "How can you not know?"

"Why didn't you just say 'rubber pieces?'"

Ruby glared at her older sister. Yang's carefree nature sometimes drove her nuts. How can she be this strong and not care about how a Gunpla is built or the proper terminology for the pieces?

"Now, girls, you both have a lot of time to get ready," Tai said, hoping to soothe the hostility. "I'm sure Ruby can figure out the solution to her polycap problem by the end of the month."

"Poly. Caps!" Ruby was getting agitated. "I'm going back to work!" She plopped herself back into her office chair and rolled back to her desk, picking up her nippers and clipping pieces out of the runners she had before her.

Tai chuckled. "Good luck, Little Rosebud. Come on, Yang, I want to see how much you've been practicing your katas."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Alright, coming…"

Ruby glanced over at the doorway as it closed, a smile forming on her face. Tai had opened up greatly to the concept of them being world champion material, and though he couldn't help Ruby beyond being a cheerleader, he had no intention of doing nothing. Helping Yang practice her martial arts was the best thing he could do, and Yang would only get stronger as a Gunpla Battler because of it. "Thanks, Dad," she whispered, before getting back to work.

* * *

"So...Yang's competing in the tag team tournament."

Tai had decided to call Raven up in Japan to inform her of Yang and Ruby's accomplishments. Raven, as per usual, was less than impressed on the outside; in her red eyes, however, Tai saw a spark of pride.

Due to differences between the two, Raven and Tai had separated shortly after Yang was born, agreeing that a broken home was no place to raise a baby. Raven had never been a truly caring person and had agreed that Tai should take full custody of their daughter. Only within the last few years had Raven started being introduced to Yang's life, and though it had initially been awkward and rocky, the two were (slowly) beginning to come around, though the distance kept things on purely short calls and pleasantries.

"Yeah, she's really looking forward to it," Tai responded with a grin. "We'll he leaving with some of their friends, one of their teachers, Blake's parents, and Mister Ozpin, their principal, who is also all of the teams' sponsor for the Tag Tourney."

"Hmmm…"

"I think this would be a good opportunity. Both of you have expressed interest in talking, and showing your support would go a long way to improve your guys' relationship."

Raven looked away, impassive. "Does she even want me back in her life? I was gone for nearly fifteen years before she even knew I existed."

"Ray, just because she didn't grow up with you doesn't change the fact that you're her mother." Tai smiled at her. "She's a teenager. I don't know how teens are in Japan-"

"Fairly modest and quiet," she interrupted. Tai laughed. "What's so funny?"

"Well, Yang is anything BUT that," he replied, "but the point is this: she wants to know you. We'll be practically on your doorstep. If you don't at least come see her once, she's going to think you don't want to see her at all."

"Hmmmm…."

Tai frowned. "Raven…"

She chuckled and smiled slightly. "Sorry. I was just thinking. Alright. When will you land in Kyoto?"

"June twenty-sixth. Finals are in a couple of days, then the girls have about two solid weeks to pack and prepare, followed by ten days to explore Japan before the actual tournament."

"I see." She paused, thinking. "If Yang is okay with spending five of those alone with me at my dojo, perhaps I can give her some last-minute training."

"Oh, that's a great idea! I'll talk to her about it. If there is one thing you two both like doing, it's fighting."

"Heh, yes, she strikes me as a rather forward individual." Raven nodded. "If you could make the offer, that would be appreciated."

"Alright, I'll talk to her about it." He smiled at her. Despite the differences that drove them to divorce, Raven always had a soft spot in his heart, and it warmed him to see that she was at least attempting to make a connection with their daughter. I have to get dinner started. I promise I'll call you again soon, okay?"

"Keep me posted."

"And Ray? That smile looks good on you. You really have changed."

Raven gave him a shocked look, her cheeks flushing. "I-I don't know what you're talking about!" She abruptly ended the call, making Tai laugh.

"That's more like it," he said to himself, before closing his laptop and standing up.

He was nervous to see what Yang would say, but also excited. This was her mother, after all. And even if, for a short time, they could sit and be a family… that's all he really wanted.

* * *

Yang threw a right hook. "So, Raven wants to meet me?"

Tai caught her fist and went for a palm strike to her chin. "Yeah. We'll be staying close to her dojo-I think there's no better time to actually get to know each other."

Yang ducked and spun on her heel, moving in for an elbow to the face, which Tai caught. "So? What's she like?"

Tai tossed her arm away, allowing her to spin on her toes and regain a defensive stance, before moving in for another palm strike. She caught his wrist but didn't see the punch he leveled into her gut, which winded her and dropped her to the floor. "I told you not to drop your guard."

She held her ribs as she huddled on the ground. Rubbing her abs, she groaned before smiling at her father. "Damn. Lucky shot, old man."

Tai laughed and sat down next to her. "Your mother...she's difficult. Complicated. Brash and impulsive in her actions, always willing to jump into something headfirst. Remind you of someone?"

Yang chuckled and punched his arm. There was a moment of silence between them, before she asked, "Think we'll get along?"

He looked at the ceiling for a second. "Yeah. I do. Provided you don't antagonize her like you do me or your sister."

Yang gave him a hurt look. "Father, you wound me!"

"Uh-huh..." He smirked while giving his daughter a sideways glance. "Yeah. You guys should get along just fine."


	7. Character Bio: Part 3

**COCO ADEL**

**AGE: 19**

**Height: 5'10"**

**Hometown: New York City, New York**

A fashionista and the powerful Northeast Regional Champion and United States Champion, Coco Adel is extremely confident and skilled has prided herself on utter decimation of her foes and looking good doing so. She works as a model for money and has started her own line of designer products, but her real passions is blasting people into pieces in Gunpla Battle. Her girlfriend Velvet is exceptionally appreciative of her abilities and Coco dedicates every battle to her.

**GUNPLA:**

**Gundam Heavyarms Gianduja**

A rugged and well-designed combination of the Gundam Heavyarms Custom and Gundam Blue Destiny Unit 3, the Gundam Heavyarms Gianduja is armed to the teeth. It sports the Gundam Heavyarms Custom's shoulders (and all of the missiles therewithin), the same quad chest Gatlings and clavicle heavy machine guns from the Endless Waltz Gundam Heavyarms Custom, Heavyarms' leg missile pods, and a beam saber mounted on the right forearm to replace the combat knife used by the regular Gundam Heavyarms. Its primary weapon, however, is a giant, one-handed beam Gatling gun it holds in its left hand, though Coco has an additional pair of sidearm beam pistols in case she needs to ditch the heavy firepower. It wields a standard Gundam Ground Type 100 mm machine gun in its right hand for added firepower.

Coco has enhanced the accuracy of the machine by adding a special targeting visor screen, built from the Gundam Local Type, to the machine, which has been designed to appear to be sunglasses over the machine's eyes but in actuality enhances her HUD and targeting systems tremendously. She has also equipped a Zero System future-prediction program on the mech, which further allows her to never waste a shot.

* * *

**RAVEN BRANWEN**

**Age: 39**

**Height: 5'6"**

**Hometown: Kyoto, Japan**

A seemingly cold and exceptionally focused woman, Raven is Yang's biological mother and the owner of a dojo that specializes in martial arts for real life and Gunpla Battle both. Her rigid and tactical nature serves her well in this role but overshadows a woman haunted by mistakes of her past. She and Taiyang Xiao Long-married young and tried their best to make a family unit work, but she ultimately decided their differences were far too much to overcome, and she decided to file for a divorce. She remains in constant contact with Tai, who allowed her to remain in his life and recently has been getting to know her daughter, Yang, as well. She is not especially close to anyone, including her twin brother Qrow. However, on Tai's insistence, she is attempting to change that.


	8. Reunion

**Editor's Note: Hey guys! Kyrus here. So, I understand that the previous chapter was viewed as a little lackluster and not precisely worth the month-long wait. If anyone felt this way, I apologize; My friend Arc Alpha 12 tried to explain that, in both the reviews and in the author's note in the last chapter, that it was set up for big things that are on the horizon. Sadly, I think that there were some who still thought it was too short, with not much that was going on in it.**

**If you were one of the people who thought this, we apologize. Not every chapter is going to have a bombastic battle; it can't, because then these battles get old really fast. Some are going to be geared more towards character development, some might be shorter than others, and in those instances, we can merely ask for your patience, and we promise it WILL be rewarded, if not now than later.**

**To express how committed I am to show you what I mean by this, I'm releasing this chapter and its character bios a full month early. Please, I ask you to understand that, Arc works 40 hours a week and has two YouTube channels that he runs run, this is going to be an exception to the "one chapter a month" rule. Arc and I both discussed this and felt this would be the best thing to do in this instance.**

**The next chapter, Chapter 6, will be released during the first weekend of February, like normal. So, if you felt the previous chapter was insufficient, hopefully, this bonus chapter will make up for it. Again, it was never my intent to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, I merely wrote what I thought would be enough without feeling like I was padding the story with too much fluff. Hopefully, this will make up for it. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Takeshi Iori waited on the tarmac of the airport as the plane finished its idling. He wore a broad, exciting smile; greeting the new arrivals coming for the world tournaments was always one of the best things about his job. As the runner up in the Second Gunpla World Championship, the father of the winner of the Seventh and Eight Championships, and Gunpla ambassador and International Referee for the Gunpla Battle Commission, he was a well known and welcomed sight at any event, and many individuals in the sport instantly recognized him.

Standing next to him, was his partner, and he could feel her barely-contained excitement radiating from her. She rocked back and forth on her heels, clutching her binder, containing the lists of visitors expected to arrive today.

"You're rather lively today," Takeshi noted. He laughed as she nodded vigorously.

"I can't help it; this is an exciting day for me!"

He nodded. "Of course, your daughter is probably on this plane. How long has it been since you were home last?"

"Oh it's been a few months," she answered, her eyes locked on the plane. "But I live chat with her and my boyfriend almost every day. She's been telling me all about the things that she and her friends have been up to. I can't wait to meet them and see what new and interesting ideas she came up with."

Takeshi chuckled. "She sounds like Sei. I think he's on his fifth sketchbook this year of new concepts for the next iteration of the Star Build Strike. Honestly, I'm not sure how much more bombastic the name of his Gunpla can get after adding 'Galaxy Cosmos' to the name, but he's always surprising me."

"Like father, like son."

He shrugged, a proud smile on his face. "Of course, he's surpassed me in every way. I'm actually both very proud and a little jealous of his skills, both as a builder and a pilot."

"When did you see him last?"

Takeshi paused in thought. "Hmmm… about five months ago while we were in Paris. He and his girlfriend China were very surprised to see me."

She grinned. "So _that's _why you snuck off."

He laughed at the look she gave him. "Guilty!"

The stairs to the plane descended. The private aircraft had been arranged by Takeshi and the Gunpla Battle Commission, to fly in all the qualified teams from the West Coast. The various pilots descended the ramps, and Takeshi stepped forward, clearing his throat to begin speaking English, rather than Japanese.

"Greetings, Gunpla Battlers! I would like to welcome you to Kyoto! My name is Takeshi Iori, Gunpla Ambassador for the World Tournament, and this is my partner-"

"MOM!"

A short brunette girl rushed passed Takeshi and nearly tackled his partner. She snuggled into the woman, who merely giggled and clung to her daughter.

"Well hello, little rosebud," she said happily, ruffling the girl's hair.

Takeshi smiled. "My partner, Summer Rose."

"Heya, Mom," Yang called out, walking next to Tai and Blake. Weiss stayed with the International Exchange Students, alongside their two teachers and principle.

"Oh, it's so good to see you all!" Summer cried out in joy. Tears welled up in her eyes as she embraced her taller daughter, and then her boyfriend.

"It's good to see you too, Miss Rose," Weiss bowed politely.

Ren bowed respectfully as Nora followed suit. The ginger-haired girl had been doing her best to mimic Ren as often as she could, to which Ren always gave her an appreciative smile as thanks.

Tai smiled at Takeshi and shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to see you again. I hope Summer hasn't been causing too much trouble."

Takeshi shook his head. "If anything, I think both she and Rinko would think I'm causing_ her _trouble. The fact of the matter is, she might still be a newcomer, but she's a natural."

Tai noticed Summer beaming at the praise, and he smiled at her, before turning to his traveling companions. "This is Harold Ozpin, Peter Port, and Amanita Peach. Mister Ozpin is sponsoring the teams, and Mister Port and Miss Peach will be acting as announcers for the English Commentary Section."

Ozpin nodded politely. "Hajimemashite, misutā Iori (a pleasure to meet you, Mister Iori)," the white-haired man said, his Japanese nearly flawless. "Your hospitality is appreciated."

"Ho-ho! Well met!" Port walked up to Takeshi, offering his hand out. The rotund elderly man took the ambassador's hand and shook it vigorously, his magnificent mustache twitching. He squeezed a bit too hard, causing Takeshi to yelp, before releasing his hand and taking a step back. Takeshi shook his hand, doing his best to retain circulation and check to see if anything was crushed.

"I apologize for my mic partner's overeagerness," Peach added. "We've been cooped up on that plane for hours! It's good to breath fresh air again."

"I understand," Takeshi said, grinning to hide the throbbing in his hand.

"So, when do we get to go to Tokyo?!" Ruby asked, her excitement spilling over. Blake chuckled, watching the younger girl beam at being in the motherland of her hobby.

"Ruby's been blabbing about the Tokyo Gundam Base since we got on the plane," Yang said with a smirk. "You'd think she has a date with the Gundam statue there."

Peach grinned. "I found Miss Rose's vast knowledge to be very entertaining."

Summer giggled as she tried to calm her red bundle of energy. "Tomorrow, Little Rosebud. I promise. For now, though, let's get you all set up in your rooms at the hotel here."

Takeshi nodded. "Go on. I'll keep greeting the newcomers on the next flight and get them set up."

"Thank you, Takeshi." Summer smiled at him before turning to her family and their friends. "Come on, I want to see your Gunpla and hear all about what you've got planned for the stay here!"

Takeshi cleared his throat, and Summer paused, before remembering something. "Oh! Right!" She reached into her jacket pocket and retrieved some earpieces, each sealed in its own little bag. "I have some translation devices for you. It won't really help much with the locals, it's regulations for contestants and their teams have one." He handed them to summer. "They are pretty subtle, fitting right inside your ear like an earplug. It only does Japanese, though, because the computer can only store two languages at a time, sadly."

She did a quick headcount. "Hmmm...some of you might need to wait until we get to the hotel. I only have eight of them on me."

Tai reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, typing something out before following the others. Yang looked at him, a curious look on her face. "Who you texting right off the plane?"

"Your mother," Tai replied. "I promised her I'd text when we arrived in Kyoto."

"But mom-" she started, but stopped when she realized who he was talking about. "...She wants to meet?"

"We'll be here for two long months. I think it's a perfect time."

Yang thought for a moment, before nodding with a sigh. "Fine… No sense putting it off, since we're here."

The group kept walking, though Ruby stopped when she looked back to see her sister and father talk, only to see Ozpin walking away. "Mister Ozpin? The shuttle to the hotel is this way."

Ozpin turned and smiled at her. "No need to wait up for me. As your sponsor, I have several things to take care of before the tournament."

"But-"

"This is a family reunion, Miss Rose. And while it's mostly pleasure for you, for me, it's business. I assure you, I'll meet up with you all at the hotel later. Go enjoy yourselves."

He turned and kept walking to a waiting black car. Summer smiled. "I always liked your principal. He's such a kind and considerate man. Now! Come on. I'll treat all of you to lunch!"

"But we just had dinner!" Ruby moaned. Pyrrha giggled at her friend's complaint, recalling her having a similar one upon arriving in Portland from Sparta.

"Then you can sit while I eat. I'm hungry, and I've missed you all so very much. Come along!"

* * *

Yang and Blake were cuddled next to each other against the wall, leaning on each other in a lazy, food-driven daze. In front of them, most of the others were laughing and having a good time, talking about some of the various work Summer had been doing-and the matches she'd had the honor of refereeing.

As the conversation continued on, Ruby perked up, suddenly looking around. Tai gave her a funny look. "Ruby? What's up?"

"I just realized," she said, confusion sowed in her voice, "where's Uncle Qrow?"

Yang perked up a bit. "Yeah, I thought he'd be here to greet us, too."

Summer sighed, her mood faltering a bit. "He said he had something to deal with first, and he wanted to get it out of the way. I'm not sure what, but he told me that it might be a few days before he's back in town to meet you all."

Ruby let out a loud groan. "I was looking forward to testing my new Gunpla against him! I wanted to see what he thought of my scythe!"

"Calm down." Weiss an annoyed look. "It's not like we don't have time to meet up with him. We'll be in Tokyo for two months. Stop acting like a spoiled brat."

Yang snickered. "That's funny, coming from the ice queen.."

Weiss shot her a dangerous look. "And what's that supposed to mean, Xiao Long?"

"I'm just saying-you? Calling my little sis spoiled? Pot to kettle!"

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at others nervously. They were sitting between both Yang and Weiss; if food started flying, they were in the line of fire. Ruby scooted away from Weiss, moving closer to her mom.

Weiss abruptly stood up, taking most of the table by surprise. Summer looked to Tai, who had grown so used to Weiss's exaggerated and ironically cold demeanor and hot-headed temper that he sat, unphased, drinking his tea and acting oblivious. Ren sat next to him in a similar state, refusing to allow the mood to phase his zen.

"You are asking for a fight, aren't you?!" Weiss demanded. "There's a Gunpla Battle table downstairs. Put your money where your mouth is!"

Summer hastily tried to calm Weiss down. "Now now, I'm sure Yang was just joking around. No need to get so hostil-"

"-Alright, you're on!" Yang chuckled with a wide grin on her face. "I'll grab Burning Echelon and wipe the floor with-"

She paused as she felt Blake's hand squeeze hers. "Yang ...you promised…."

Yang looked over at Blake, who hadn't opened her eyes but nuzzled up onto Yang like a cat would their beloved owner. Yang smiled happily, nuzzling the top of her head lightly in return, before turning back to Weiss. "Maybe later."

Weiss sighed, deflated from watching the two cute girls cuddle up to one another. She attempted to lash back but couldn't find the energy, no longer irritated. Her friends were quite adorable. "Next time, Yang," she said, though it was a half-hearted challenge. She sat down with a huff and took a sip from her cup of tea, much to the remaining parties' relief.

Summer looked at Tai. "Are they always like this?"

Tai nodded, still keeping his eyes closed, but smiling. "Yeah. It's kind of their thing."

Summer stared at him in disbelief for a moment, before bursting out in laughter. "Well, then things should stay entertaining during your stay."

The group settled down as everyone finished eating, light banter filling the air. Yang looked at her father with a curious look. "So, when is Raven going to swing by?" She asked.

Summer paused at the name and set down her sandwich. "Raven?"

"Ah, she was going to pop by tonight, but something came up at her dojo that she needed to deal with. She said she'll come around tomorrow to speak with you. She proposed you stay with her at her dojo to train."

Blake gave Yang a small look. Yang just squeezed her hand with a smile. "What about the rest of you?"

"We will be fine," Blake said. "It'll give my mom time to take me to see some relatives, and for the others to train me some more. We still have a while before the tournament, and while I've gotten better, I'm still not that confident…"

"And I can help her finish customizing her Gunpla so it's not just a gift, but her own machine," Ruby added. "Don't worry about us, Yang. You should go and visit your mom."

"The tournament doesn't officially start four ten days," Summer said. "A week training at one of the best dojos for Gunpla Battle might be a good idea."

Yang nodded in agreement. "Alright. Sounds good to me." She grinned, an excited look in her eyes. "Then let's spend the night together, and let the training commence!"

* * *

The group started to wind down after dinner, with Ruby deciding to spend some time with her mother. Summer was, as usual, rather doting, and listened to everything she had to say. Tai beamed as she described her fight with Yang, and the new project she had been working on.

"So, how long until Destiny Scythe is complete?" Summer asked, looking down at the pieces as Ruby gently sanded them down.

"Soon. I plan on going to a hobby shop in a couple of days for supplies; I need to customize the Destiny wings so they fold backward, like Freedom Gundam's." She set her exact-o knife to the side and eyed the shoulder of Deathscythe, which she was carefully modifying to fit the Destiny arm. "I want to keep a general look and feel of both Deathscythe and Destiny, but there are things I think I can improve upon for both."

"Like the wings?"

"Yes!" Ruby scrunched her nose up. "Destiny is a beautiful machine but who designed a winged suit with wings that can't bend backward?!"

"Gundam Deathscythe Hell Custom's wings don't bend backward," Summer reminded her. Deathscythe Hell Custom had always been Ruby's favorite mobile suit.

"Yeah, but they are able to open up and fold around the machine for protection," Ruby shot back. "If I were to use them, I'd do the same thing-I'd design them to fold backward so I could focus my propulsion straight back to go faster."

Summer giggled. "Oh, little petal...you always surprise and amaze me with your passion."

Ruby turned to her mom, a curious look on her face. "Do you have a Gunpla?"

Summer blushed. "Yes. Takeshi taught me how to play Gunpla Battle while we were traveling around." She looked up at the ceiling, remembering their first battle. "I was so bad; even going easy on me, he whooped my butt big time. But I've gotten a lot better, and a lot craftier, since then."

"What Gunpla did you use?"

Summer smiled and stood up, walking over to her purse, where she pulled out a small case. She sat next to Ruby and opened it. "I decided to use the Farsia as a base, and added some extra things for my liking, like an SD Rozen Zulu backpack. With Takeshi's help, I also created a custom flight base to look more like a rose. I call it the Farsia Rozen Solstice."

The Farsia's sleek, the rounded design was perfectly suited for Summer's taste. It had a black and white paint job, with red trim to highlight its armor. Thanks to the SD backpack, Ruby knew it actually didn't need the flight base; the weakness of the Farsia was its lack of thrusters, relying on the base-if it had gotten separated, the Farsia was dead in the water.

She noted, as well, that it appeared to have taken some moderate design inspiration for new armor plating from the Rozen Zulu, as well. The Farsia Rozen Solstice featured not just the backpack, but modified shoulder pauldrons from the Rozen Zulu. The shoulder joints were superbly protected. She also saw the shield beam cannons of the Rozen Zulu had been integrated into the new flight base, allowing it to act as a weapon platform alongside a transport for the mobile suit.

It's rose-tipped staff interested Ruby most of all. Summer watched as she carefully picked the weapon up to examine it. "The tip can fire beam Vulcans, just like other Vagan suits from Gundam AGE, or be used to create a beam saber tip," she explained. "The staff is also painted with an anti-beam coating, so I can deflect incoming melee blows."

"I've never seen something so beautiful," Ruby commented, placing the staff back in its spot in the foam lining the case. She closed it and handed it back to her mother. "One of these days, I want to fight you. I want to see how strong you are!"

"Oh, my. I think you might be overestimating your mother," Summer replied, but she smiled happily. She looked over at the doorway, where Tai stood, smiling at the two of them.

"It's good to have my family back here together," he said, drawing Ruby's attention. "I've missed this."

"I'm sorry I've been gone for so long," Summer said. "I never expected to be traveling around with Takeshi. I'm sure Rinko is used to it, but I never expected to put you through this. I've been all over the world, helping with the organization of all the national tournaments and making sure the rules and regulations are in place, but the only place I want to be is with you guys."

"It's okay, Mom." Ruby leaned on her mother's shoulder. "You're doing a wonderful job. I'm proud of you."

Summer's silver eyes glistened with tears, and she kissed the top of her daughter's head. "How did I end up so lucky?"

"Now, we just need Raven and Qrow," Tai added, walking over to them.

"Qrow, that dunce...He was supposed to call me the other day." Summer frowned. "I'll need to give him an earful when he finally gets back."

Tai laughed. "Go easy on the guy. He's like you-career focused. He's a private investigator. I doubt he really gets the chance to have a vacation."

"I miss Uncle Qrow though…" Ruby whined.

"Then you can help me by giving him an earful in his other ear."

Ruby giggled and nodded. "Deal!"

Tai rolled his eyes. "You're both brats…"

Summer merely smiled. "You love us."

* * *

Blake and Yang snuggled together in the dining room, listening to Nora struggle to learn Chinese as Ren patiently tried to teach her. Nora's constant energy and restlessness made Blake chuckle as her head rested on Yang's shoulder.

"Are you nervous?"

Yang looked at her girlfriend, confused. "What? About meeting Raven?"

"Yeah."

She sighed. "Honestly? Terrified. I have barely talked to this woman in years. I have so many questions, but I don't know when I should ask, or even if I should at all. It's so weird, you know?"

"Hmmm…" Blake sat up and looked at Yang. "Well, I'll come with you if you want."

Yang thought for a moment. "Maybe...I know that I told her about you, but maybe I should wait? I mean, it's kinda like introducing you to my parents, except I'm introducing myself too. And I don't know if that's rude or not."

Blake nodded. "I understand. And, I would want you to get comfortable with her, first. But...I do want to meet her. To explore her dojo."

"I'm still trying to figure out how that works." Yang scratched her head. "Like...she teaches martial arts, and samurai stuff, but also does it with Gunpla?"

"One more thing to ask her, I suppose." Blake turned Yang's face to her and planted a gentle kiss on her lips. "But that's for tomorrow. Tonight, stay with me, please."

Yang grinned. "I wasn't planning on going anywhere. I turned Weiss down, didn't I?"

Blake smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose you did. I was afraid she was going to steal you away from me after you promised you'd be here."

"And here, I sit." She kissed Blake's nose and stood up. "But I think I've been sitting for too long. My ass is numb. You could spank me and I wouldn't feel it."

Nora and Ren both glanced over to Yang, surprised. Blake simply blushed and rolled her eyes. "You're so uncouth."

"I don't even know what that means." Her grin grew and she winked at Blake, before walking over to grab a blanket for them. She dragged a heavy one over and wrapped it around Blake, who laid backward and snuggled in with Yang.

"Do you think we'll get a chance to explore Japan together?"

Yang nodded. "You bet. I wanna see where your mom grew up. You always said it was beautiful."

"It is. Japan doesn't have to always be about Gunpla while we're here." Blake hugged her tight, and gazed into her eyes. "But I know that's definitely important to everyone here, yourself included."

"Hell yeah, it is. I want to find a rival and punch him in the face!" Yang gave her an excited grin. "But in the downtime...I want to spend it with you and your folks. They've always been super nice."

Blake nodded. "Then tomorrow, let's go meet your real mother, and then as the days go on, we can see about sightseeing and stuff."

"Deal."

The thought of being able to kick major competitive ass thrilled her, but Yang was even more thrilled to be doing it with Blake. The two had become closer since Blake met and housed Shia Kajima during her time here, with Blake learning the sport that Yang loved so much. And now, that hobby had led the two of them to the one spot in the world that Blake wanted to show her.

"Hey, Blake."

"Yes, Yang?"

"I love you."

Blake blushed bright red, hiding her face under the blanket, knowing Ren and Nora could hear them still. "I… I love you too, Yang."

Yang sighed happily. "My little kitcat...:"

Summer came out and noticed the two snuggled under the blanket. "That is such an adorable sight," she commented, causing both of them to look up. Blake blushed harder as Yang laughed.

"Moooooom! You're embarrassing us!"

Ruby came around the corner and gasped in delight, before scampering over and lifting the blanket off of Blake, who protested. "Ruby! What are you doing?"

"Buzz off!" Yang snapped. "Stop trying to see where my hands are! They are in the green zones, okay?!"

"I'm just trying to make sure everything is all PG in here," Ruby replied with pride.

"You're pissing me off, is what you are. Blake and I have never done anything. Stop trying to spy on us!"

A book slammed shut and she looked over at the couch to see Weiss, with a visibly annoyed look on her face. "Ruby, perhaps we should practice." She stood up and walked over to the girl, grabbing her by the arm.

"Wait! No! I'm on an important mission! Purity must be maintained! Weiss! Let me go!"

Weiss dragged Ruby away, causing both Tai and Summer to laugh and Ren to simply shake his head, Nora gave them a confused look. "What is happening?"

"I wouldn't worry about it," Yang commented, watching the two get pulled away. "But Ruby's right, we should all get some sleep. Especially if I'm probably going to deck my own mother in the face tomorrow in a Gunpla Battle."

Tai scoffed. "Yeah. Good luck with that, my little sunny dragon. I hope Blake records it."

Ruby turned to her own mother. "Hey, since this place has a small Gunpla Battle system in it. Would you like to fight with me, Mom?"

Yang gave her a confused look. "But, your new Gunpla isn't done yet."

"I have a stock Strike Noir that I built on the plane ride here," Ruby replied. "I'll just give it my new weapon and use it."

Summer thought for a moment, before clapping her hands together excitedly. "Alright! I think it'd be lovely to duel you. Come on!"

She turned and grabbed her case, before quickly walking to the door. Tai laughed at her enthusiasm, and Nora, Ren, Blake, and Yang all perked up.

"Wanna go watch?" Yang asked. Blake nodded, and the two go up from under the blanket and followed Summer and Ruby downstairs to the lobby, where a small recreation room sat.

Summer had already plugged her GP Base into the table, and Ruby wasn't far behind, withdrawing the Strike Noir from its pouch on her belt and setting it down. She typed on her own GP Base's screen, searching for the Strike Gundam Noir in its databanks, and then adding her custom coded weapon to it, before placing Crescent Rose in its hand.

The table asked for her GP Base, and then her Gunpla, which she provided on cue. The holographic screen appeared before her as she gripped her hard light orbs.

"FIELD 8: SKY."

The table projected a massive skyline with a large platform attached to the Orbital Elevator cable in the center. There were what appeared to be Dodai Kai flightcraft that mobile suits could use if they were not capable of flight themselves. Ruby was already thinking about the fact that she was at a disadvantage; the flight base of the Farsia gave Summer massive mobility compared to the limitations of the Dodai Kai. Fortunately, the flight base was not intended for gravity or atmospheric use, so it might even out. Or so she hoped.

"BATTLE START!"

"Ruby Rose, Strike Gundam Noir, launch!"

"Summer Rose, Farsia Rozen Solstice, launching!"

The two rocketed out of their hangers and into the open air, where Ruby made it a priority to immediately head for the platform. At the height they were at, near the edge of the stratosphere, a fall from this height would be devastatingly lethal to her Gunpla. They were fighting on C-level damage, so no real damage would be incurred, but it would still be enough to disable her and keep her from fighting.

She was already halfway to the platform when she was forced to swerve. A lancing green beam shot forward and narrowly missed her. She immediately spun and increased her propulsion to attempt to regain altitude, before dodging another beam.

She spotted her mother's Gunpa ahead, easily skimming through the sky on its rose-shaped flight base. Clearly, she was wrong-this upgraded flight base was well suited for aerial maneuvers, which made for an even bigger problem.

Ruby landed on the platform and swiveled the Strike Noir's twin linear guns on its backpack backward. The two small beam cannons fired as she boarded the Dodai Kai, taking off as Summer peppered her launchpad with Beam Vulcan shots.

Ruby spun around and fired with her beam rifle, trying to force Summer into a different position. The Farsia dodged and opened fire with its diffusion chest beam, which caused Ruby to bank left, nearly going horizontal as the massive beam was avoided. Summer grinned and tapped on her left orb, cycling to her special weapon, and released the five Farsia bits stored in her backpack.

The five bits flew towards the aircraft, following it as Ruby righted herself and was circling around. They began peppering the area with yellow beams, forcing Ruby to dive down to avoid them. The Farsia's flight base opened fire with another of its long-range green beams from the Rozen Zulu shield cannons it housed. Rubu narrowly avoided it by pulling up on the Dodai Kai at the last second and returned fire with both her right linear gun and her beam rifle.

Ruby reached down to her left hip and withdrew one of the beam pistols of the Strike Noir, and opened fire in the opposite direction. She desperately needed to get the bits off of her, and she succeeded in killing one before another shot one of her Dodai Kai's engines out. She quickly killed it with her head Vulcans but was now having trouble navigating the craft.

She spun around on the top of the craft in time to see the other bits lining up. However, one was missing. She fired on the three behind her, all of which scattered, before feeling the Dodai shake under her. She looked behind her as the residual beam that had fired faded away, leaving a gaping hole in the cockpit of the Dodai.

She pushed off the now-disabled craft, freefalling. She looked to try and find her mother, only to have the Farsia rush her. She raised her rifle to block the incoming blow from the beam-tipped spear Summer used, kicking the Farsia off of its flight base and forcing it to join her in freefall.

Ruby looked and aimed her left arm at the flight base, firing her rocket anchor out and grappling the unit, pulling it to her. She was about to land on it when it inverted on her and shot backward, then up, opening fire on her again.

"Drat! The flight base is just a giant bit, isn't it?" she asked herself, trying to think of something. She pulled it in again, just as Summer slashed through the cable with her beam pike, freeing her flight base. Ruby opened fire on it, blasting the flight base out of the sky, before using the twin linear guns to hit two more of the bits.

The tail of the Farsia moved up and Summer grasped it in her free hand. It released into a sword, which she then swung at Ruby. Her daughter was forced to spin in the air and kick her away, placing Crescent Rose on her hip and withdrawing the twin "Fragarach 3" beam edged swords from the wings of the Strike Noir pack.

The Farsia swung its staff, beam saber tip ignited, at Ruby, which forced her to back up, before bringing its sword from its tail down. Ruby blocked the sword with her own, swinging the other upwards to try and literally disarm the Farsia. Summer deactivated the beam saber tip, and moved to the side, dodging the swing, before bringing the staff up in the same manner as Ruby's sword. The rose-tipped staff acted like a mace, slamming into the Strike Noir's chin and sending it upwards slightly. The blow nearly decapitated the Gundam from sheer force alone, and Ruby counted herself lucky her mother decided to deactivate the beam saber tip.

"You're not bad, little petal," Summer praised, grinning in excitement as she moved her orbs around. She pointed the staff at Ruby and opened fire, the beam Vulcans peppering the Strike Noir. Ruby used the flats of the blades to shield the core of her machine, before getting the warning that something was approaching from behind. She quickly shifted her camera behind her and fired the linear cannons, blasting two of the last bits, but just as she did, a lancing green beam shot through her right leg.

Ruby cried out in surprise as she noticed the disabled flight base below her mother. Though it could no longer remain airborne, its weapons were still active. She gritted her teeth and prepared to ditch one of her swords to grab her rifle, but was hit from behind by the last remaining Farsia bit, which crippled her right-wing and disabled her thrusters.

'Damn..." Ruby sighed in frustration. There wasn't anything else she could do; her mother had her dead to rights. With no thrusters, she had little chance to win, unless her mother allowed it. Either she would blow her up, or she'd crash into the Earth long before the Farsia would. "Alright, I concede…"

She hit the holographic button, ending the battle, and the table ceased its functions. The Farsia Rozen Solstice and Strike Gundam Noir both fell to the table, lifeless. Ruby looked at her mother, who beamed.

"The Farsia, in general, is a difficult opponent to fight," Summer acknowledged. "But despite that, you did very well!"

"Wow, Ruby, That was intense!" Nora exclaimed. "I've never seen the mobile suit your mom used before!"

"Wow, Mom, you're super strong," Yang grinned. "I wonder how you'd fare against me?"

"Or Weiss," Blake noted the way Summer fought. "She fights very much as you do with her Gyan; I wouldn't mind seeing that at some point."

Summer blushed. "Well...I did train with Takeshi, who was the runner up in the Second World Championship. And sometimes, in my job, I have to be a strong competitor."

Ruby picked up Crescent Rose. "Hmmm ...I think I know what I need to build. I know what I want Destiny Scythe to become."

Summer gave her a curious glance. "Oh? Did you think of something you were lacking?"

Ruby looked at her and nodded. "Thanks to you, yeah! I'll start working on the new idea tomorrow. Thanks, Mom!"

Summer smiled. "Of course, little petal. Always happy to help."


	9. Character Bio: Part 4

**Summer Rose**

**Age: 37**  
**Height: 5'2"**

**Hometown: Beaverton, Oregon**

**Job: international Gunpla Official Referee, Gunpla Ambassador**

Summer Rose is Ruby's biological mother and de facto stepmother to Yang. She and Taiyang have been best friends since high school, alongside the Branwen twins, and maintains a solid bond with all three of them. Summer is not actually married to Tai but has been together with him for the last fifteen years in a healthy and loving relationship. She's a huge nerd, and overall cheerful individual, and exceptionally good-natured. She has silver eyes, much like her daughter.

Her love for Gunpla led her to apply for and get accepted into the International Gunpla Official Referee position, which often takes her around the world undercover to ensure that the Gunpla regulations are being upheld. While something like that might sound extreme for a sport featuring toys, Summer and her partner, Takeshi Iori, take such things seriously, as the Gunpla Battle Commission has much to lose if these regulations are interfered with by the likes of various individuals, such as the Gunpla Mafia. While she is not home often, she makes time to regularly call both of her daughters and Ruby.

Yang refers to her as Super Mom.

**GUNPLA:**  
**Farsia Rozen Solstice**

A modified Farsia from Gundam AGE, Summer has taken an SD Rozen Zulu and added some of its parts to it for both functionality and aesthetic purposes. She's created large shoulder pauldrons, replaced the two large thruster spikes on its back with the SD Gunpla's backpacks (complete with the rose-shaped Psycho Jammers), the five Farsia bits in its bag, and created a customized flight base for the machine that has the mega particle cannons of the Rozen Zulu's shield mounted to it. Along with these pieces of equipment are the ability to fire beam Vulcans or generate a beam saber from its palms, a tail that can detach to be used as a potent physical blade, and a staff that is tipped with a heavy metal rose, that also houses a beam Vulcan/beam saber emitter to be used as a pike or a bludgeoning long-handled mace. It additionally retains the giant diffuse beam cannon in its chest.

Because the Farsia model used is technically the Fawn Farsia, the flight base is, in truth, unnecessary, as the original Farsia required it to move around due to a lack of back thrusters, but the Fawn Farsia does not. However, since the flight base has been turned into a mobile weapons platform, Summer can use it as a massive bit to accompany her smaller Farsia bits, attacking multiple targets at once in several directions. This makes the Farsia Rozen Solstice an exceptionally lethal opponent in any situation, as the flight base is just as durable and deadly as the mobile suit itself is at range.

* * *

**Takeshi Iori**

**Age: 39**

**Height: 6'0"**

**Hometown: Kawasaki, Japan**

**Job: International Gunpla Official Referee, Gunpla Ambassador, Owner of Iori Hobby Shop**

The runner-up in the Second Gunpla Battle Championship, Takeshi Iori, has become a legend in the Gunpla Battle circuits for a variety of reasons. His hobby shop, built into his home, is a small but well-stocked source of material for hobby enthusiasts. His building skills are toted to be some of the best in the world. His passion for the sport is unrivaled, and his son Sei Iori is a two-time World Champion himself, winning the Seventh Gunpla Championship (as an operator, alongside his partner Reiji in the Star Build Strike Gundam) and the Eleventh Gunpla Championship (on his own, in the Build Burning Gundam). Takeshi is responsible for getting a large number of people interested in Gunpla.

Takeshi is known for breaking the mold in the "Straight Build vs. Custom Build" argument many people in the Gunpla Battle community have, due to his masterful control of a completely stock RX-78-2 Gundam (Revive) kit he used to dominate his opponents in the Second Gunpla Battle Tournament. This kit has become nearly utterly synonymous with his name. He has been seen with a variety of RX-78-2 Gundam kits over the years, including the original, the 30th Anniversary, the Perfect Gundam, the 40th Anniversary Industrial Design, the Gundam: The Origin variant, and even an SD Cross Silhouette version. None of these kits are customized at all but are tuned and correctly assembled to such a degree that they can easily outpace even the most advanced customizations.

As a Gunpla Battle Official Referee, Takeshi is often away from home, traveling the world to ensure the regulations of the sport are upheld and apprehend those who try to break these rules. He takes his job-and the sport itself-very seriously and goes to great lengths to put an end to illegal activity. He is often away from home, though his wife Rinko is very understanding. He gets along very well with Tai and Summer Rose and was very grateful to be assigned to train Summer to become a Gunpla Battle Referee and Ambassador.

* * *

**HAROLD OZPIN**

**Age: 50**

**Height: 6'2"**

**Job: Principal at Benjamin Franklin High School.**

Ozpin generally doesn't like to reveal much about himself. Known as a well-educated and friendly individual, he often gives off a mysterious aura of a man who knows more than he lets on. His fondness for Gunpla is relatively unknown except by those who are close to him, and very few people actually can be considered close. He takes a particular interest in his school's Gunpla club, coaching Teams RWBY and Juniper in the more exceptional arts of Gunpla control on rare occasions, though with the lack of an actual Battle Station on campus, much of this is done through regular tutoring sessions. Generally well-liked by the students, Ozpin took it upon himself to sponsor all four doubles teams (White Rose, Bumblebee, Arkos, and ReNora) and has traveled to Japan to keep a watchful eye on both his students and his investments.

* * *

**AMANITA PEACH**

**Age: 34**  
**Height: 5'6"**

**Job: Science Teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School, Official NA Gunpla Battle Announcer**

A well-loved and eccentric teacher at Franklin, Miss Peach is one part beauty, one part mad scientist. Her love of Gunpla is almost as known as her occasional explosions in her class, and her side job during the Regionals and National tournaments as official Gunpla Battle Announcer, and her colorful and excitable personality, garnered her a position to be the North American announcer for the World Tournament and Doubles Tournament. Though she does not actively battle anymore, she has a wide assortment of Gunpla in a small display case in her classroom, all of which she is proficient in. She claims that she can handle nearly any machine, with a few minutes of practice; however, none of her students have seen her fight. Many of her mobile suits come from Gundam: Reconguista in G and the one custom kit in her display is of a heavily modified G-Arcane Full Dress, hinting that might be her main Gunpla.

* * *

**PETER PORT**

**Age: 65**

**Height: 5'10"**

**Job: Law And Public Service Teacher at Franklin High School, Official NA Gunpla Battle Announcer**

A rotund man with a thick, wickedly epic mustache and a pretension for bluster and purple prose, Mr. Port is often considered one of the wisest-but least liked-teachers at Franklin, mostly for his long-winded stories and constant focus on details that seemingly do not matter. Despite this, the student body has come to respect his dedication to his craft, if not his desire to share every minute detail about a subject. His booming and very noticeable voice, and his love of description, makes him a perfect companion to Peach, who requested him to be her partner for the coverage of the World Gunpla Tournament.

He loves Gunpla as much as he loves his stories and is well known in North America as being one of the first to pick up the sport. His tried and true modified Lumber Gundam, which he calls Grizzly Gundam Blowhard (choosing the English dub name over the Japanese name), serves as a constant and valuable companion. He is known to be close friends with Mr. Ral, a well-known veteran in Gunpla Battle in his own right and one of the most powerful fighters in the world.


	10. Intensity

**An: Heya guys, ARC Alpha 12 here! Sorry about all the confusion last month, with the shorter chapter and the double release. **

**For those who would like some questions answered, I am always happy to take a look on either my personal account (which you can access in the review section, as I've commented there a few times) or by PMing this account, which will likely get a response from either Kyrus Lowen or myself.**

**To answer the question that was posed in the comments, "why don't I add the character bios to the chapters," it's simply about consistency. I explained it in length in the review section but in short, I want a format that will fit all the chapters, and as the story update some chapters or character sheets will be much, MUCH longer than others. To avoid making the chapters too long, I separated them from the bios. I hope this helps make things clearer.**

**Now, with that out of the way, on to the chapter! We are beginning to dig into the meat of the Gundam Build Fighters universe, so prepare for some developments in the next few chapters that'll start fleshing out some of the worlds they live in!**

* * *

Yang and Blake stood at the front gate of the traditional looking dojo. Yang held the address in her hand, which was shaking lightly. Blake put her hand on Yang's shoulder to steady her.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Blake tried to reassure her.

Yang took a deep, slow breath and nodded. "Yeah. I'm just… it's the first time meeting her in person, ya know?" She looked at Blake's amber eyes and gave her a smile. Blake knew that look all too well; Yang wore that smile when she was being brave to cope with her uncertainty.

"Would you prefer if we waited for my mother to get here? I'm sure she wouldn't mind-"

"-Let's get going!" Yang blurted out, marching forward towards the gates. "The day's only getting older!"

Blake gave her a surprised look but then smiled. She knew she wanted to keep Kali and Ghira away from Raven until she'd had the chance to make sure there was nothing to be afraid of. While Raven had had nothing to do with raising Yang, it was still her mother. And Blake's parents were quite loving and accepting of Yang. Their opinions mattered to her.

They entered the main area, which featured a large battle table and eleven students, ranging from ages six to in their early twenties. They were all dressed in comfortable martial arts gi and seemed focused on learning the intricate nature of the Mobile Trace system, as they moved inside their holographic and hard light cockpits.

Circling the outer area was a middle-aged woman who looked remarkably like Yang, though her hair was jet black instead of gold, her eyes red instead of lilac, and her skin pale rather than bronze. She also wore a stern, but slightly tired, expression. She glanced at the newcomers and nodded, before turning back to watch her two students practice in the battle system.

Blake watched the fighters; even though their Gunpla were being flipped around, the obvious limitation of the Gunpla Battle cockpit is that certain motions had to still be automated or simulated. A judo flip could be performed, with the system reacting only if the Gunpla's touch each other. If they do, then a temporary hard light projection was displayed, allowing the grappler to toss the grappled. This, in turn, tossed the Gunpla.

But the act of getting up was handled differently. The Gunpla would automatically begin righting itself if possible by computer automated control to get into the same pose as the pilot since the pilot would remain upright. Blake noticed, however, that the tossed pilots often knelt down or even sat down, so that they could get back into a position to control their Gunpla more quickly, rather than to wait. And, through the table, she also noted that even the kids could compete with the adults equally; using Gunpla, the battlefield was limited only by the motions they knew.

This was plainly evident when the smallest student in the dojo completely toppled one of the adults in the battle and forced them to surrender, which brought a small smirk to Raven's face, though she quickly hid it.

"That's enough," Raven called out, raising her hand up to signal the end of training. "I'm calling class early today. Practice your katas and be prepared to show them off in our next class. Dismissed."

The students all bowed respectfully, then proceeded to leave. All but one, who gave Yang a curious look. His vibrant red hair and amber eyes crossed with Yang's, and within a moment, a spark lit up in both of them. She also noted his gi had a symbol not of the birds wing behind an eye of Raven's dojo, but of an open hand, burning gold in a red circle.

They each could sense the other's fierce determination and love of a good fight. A natural instinct, so to speak, one felt only when rivals sized each other up. He glanced up and down, noting the toned biceps, muscles under her leggings, and abs barely peeking out from the mid-drift of her shirt. The body of someone who knew how to move in a fight, without a doubt.

Yang grinned, and he returned it. "Hey, what's your name?" She asked, her American accent coming through rather plainly in her somewhat rusty Japanese.

"Sekai Kamiki," he replied, his excitement spilling into his voice. "And you?"

"Yang Xiao Long."

Raven approached them both. She, too, sensed the rising tension and eagerness between them. "Careful, Yang. Sekai isn't my student," she explained. "His master sent him to me to study additional martial arts after his team won the Tri Battle Tournament last year."

"Oh, so you're part of the team my sister keeps fawning over?" Yang asked. Her grin got wider. "Interesting. I might wanna spar sometime."

Sekai shot his fist out at her, wind rushing right past her hair, blasted forward by the speed of the punch. "I'll take you on any time!"

Yang leaned back slightly, surprised, before repeating the motion, replicating his own act, with similar effect. He was shorter than she was-not much taller than Ruby, but he commanded a presence that she could not help but admire.

"I'm afraid, at your current skill level, Sekai would completely destroy you, Yang," Raven said frankly. Her blunt statement threw Yang off balance, and she looked at her, confused. "Your skill in the martial arts isn't the problem," she continued, answering the unasked question in her daughter's mind. "It's your temper, which I saw on full display when you fought Ruby."

"Hey! That's- Ow!" Yang's tantrum was stopped abruptly as Raven flicked her forehead. She recoiled and scowled, which made Raven smirk in response.

"My point exactly." Raven crossed her arms. "Sekai has mastered his hot-headedness to work in his favor, something I think you can learn from. But it's not something that's impossible to change. By the time I'm done, it will work for you, instead of the other way around. Your father explained that I asked you to come here to train before the tournament?"

"Yeah," she grumbled. Blake couldn't help but let out a giggle, which made the blonde shoot her a daring look. Blake cringed slightly but put on a cute look, which soothed Yang's mood.

Raven raised an eyebrow at the girls but said nothing. She did, however, make a mental note of how easily her companion was able to calm her.

Sekai smiled, the determined look only intensifying. "Well, in that case, I can't wait to see how much stronger you'll get. But I have to run. I have to go practice with my partner for the doubles match." He bowed to Raven respectfully.

Raven bowing slightly to Sekai and smiled as she watched him rush to the locker room, before turning back to Blake and Yang. "Pardon my abruptness; there is a specific air I try to maintain around my students," she explained.

"It's cool," Yang replied. "I kinda figured it was an act."

Raven turned to Blake and bowed respectfully, which Blake returned. "You must be Blake. It's a pleasure to meet you as well. Tai speaks highly of you."

Blake blushed slightly. "Oh. I'm...glad. He does seem to like me."

Yang gave Blake a loving look. She was glad Raven was so accepting of her. One of her biggest fears was that Raven wouldn't like her, but thankfully that didn't seem to be the case.

"Also, I do apologize for not making it last night." Raven closed her eyes, stress showing on her face. "I had a difficult situation here last night that required my attention. A student had to be forcibly ejected. It was...not pretty."

"Oof, what happened?"

"I'd rather not get into it... So, have you thought about my offer to train with me?"

"I have. But I was wondering; Blake is still pretty new to Gunpla Battle. She's good, but I was hoping maybe she could stay here to train with us?"

Raven glanced at Blake, scrutiny crossing her face. "No."

Yang and Blake both glanced at each other, shocked. "What?!"

"My dojo is designed and set up for training in the Mobile Trace system. Based on her slender body type, she likely is not a martial artist. I'm not sure I'd be as helpful to her as I can for you." She paused for a moment in thought. "But, perhaps I can offer a different kind of assistance. Yang, I'd like to propose a deal. For three days, you and I will work solo. No distractions."

She looked away, a sad expression crossing her face. "I...want to bond with you. To try and make up for a lost time, and to talk with you. So stay here and train with me. When classes resume, I'll have you both work with my students. They might be able to learn a few things from you both, and you, them."

Yang hesitated, but Blake touched her shoulder and smiled. "I'm good with that. That gives me time to finish the customization for Gundam 00 Shia so it's more of my own, and it'll let me spend time with my family."

Yang listened, then smiled. "Alright, that's not too bad. Let's do it!"

Raven nodded, her sadness replaced with approval. "Good. I'll get you a gi then, Yang. Your training starts in an hour."

Raven walked away, leaving Blake and Yang alone. They turned to each other. "I'm gonna miss you, Kitty Kat.

Kitty Kat took a step forward and gave her a peck on the lips. "It's only a few days, silly. And we can still text and talk when you're done."

"Yeah…" She returned the gesture with a hug. "Then I'll see you in a couple of days. Go have fun with your folks."

Blake nodded and kissed her one more time, before turning and heading for the door.

Raven glanced at the two and smiled. She could tell that her daughter had definitely inherited Tai's traits more than herself. And she was glad.

* * *

Yang glared at the straight built Astray Red Frame ahead of her. The katana it held was pointed at her Burning Echelon, unwavering. So far, Yang had not done any damage to it. Raven had danced around every attack, with effortless fluid movements befitting a samurai and debilitating, lightning-fast strikes she'd only seen ninja in video games perform.

Never before had Yang thought that the Mobile Trace system could be used like this, in swordplay, but Raven opened her eyes.

Raven was on a screen to her right, holding a hard light rod forward. She moved the rod, and the Astray shifted with her, raising the sword up near her face and pointing it at her daughter.

Burning Echelon charged again, but watched as the thrown punch sailed harmlessly away and she stuck out her foot, tripping the machine. She landed hard on the ground, kneeling, trying to catch her breath.

Yang inhaled deeply, calming herself. She thought back to Raven mentioning her anger, and how it was holding her back, and she could feel the frustration building. She wasn't wrong. All she wanted to do was pummel that Astray's face in, but it would just have easily avoided the attack and probably slashed her backpack to weaken her further.

"Have you heard of Assimilation before, Yang?"

Her voice snapped Yang's attention out of her thoughts and to the screen. "Huh?"

"Assimilation. It's the reason you won't beat Sekai Kamiki in a fight. It's a rare state achieved through extreme focus and a serene state of mind, and a perfect balance and harmony between your Gunpla and yourself. Sekai and you have a lot in common, but unlike you, he's mastered allowing his anger to work for him, rather than control him."

Yang watched as Raven put her sword away, and she dropped her stance. "What is it?"

Raven inhaled slightly. "It is as I said. It's a state at which you become one with your Gunpla. The reasons for it are unknown, as are many of the details around it. In fact, selectively few pilots have accessed it, and even fewer have mastered it. It can be achieved through either normal or Mobile Trace controls, but it's more potent if you are directly controlling the machine. And since the introduction of the Mobile Trace controls, more and more people have been seen accessing the ability.

"In short, it allows for superb, near-lagless control, allowing you to use the Gunpla and the Mobile Trace system to their absolute maximum potential. However…"

She closed her eyes. "Through means I'm not entirely certain on, it also transmits some of the damage from the Gunpla into your own body."

"What?!" Yang cried out. "That's impossible!"

"Plavsky Particles make it possible," Raven explained. "The nature of the Plavsky Particles allows emotional wavelengths and brainwaves to be carried through to others. It allows you to read the emotional state of an opponent at a base level. Plavsky Particles aren't just affecting Gunpla; they affect the pilot, as well, when they are created by the Battle System, and through them, it allows pilots to judge each other's emotional states, which in turn grants us a greater understanding of each other through our battles.

"Some have described it as similar to the Newtype Effect in the actual Gundam anime, allowing people to telepathically communicate, though that is only rumor, And, in addition, it helps us push past our limits and unlock skills and abilities in Gunpla Battle that people have only ever dreamed of. But becoming one with your Gunpla has its drawbacks."

Yang looked at her hands, which of course made the Burning Echelon look at its own hands. "...how much damage are we talking about?"

"Sekai once said that a cut on his own Gunpla, the Build Burning Gundam, actually caused a small, shallow cut on his cheek. He also said that several times, upon taking a lot of damage in a fight, he was rendered unconscious from the connection. But, it should also be noted that he was not accustomed to assimilation during that second event, and recovered quickly, though it did startle his teammates. Some have argued that assimilation is far too risky, yet the nature of martial arts is a risk versus reward system. Assimilation is no different."

Yang thought about what she said for a moment. She wasn't wrong. The risk of injury was always present. And, it sounded like it wasn't even all that serious…

She clenched both fists, her resolve renewed. "Yeah, you're right! No pain, no gain!"

Raven chuckled. "You are just like your father. So, shall we try again to focus your emotions?"

Yang lowered her fists. That reminded her of one of the things she wanted to talk to Raven about. "Wait." She canceled the battle, and the holograms faded, leaving the two Gunpla motionless on the now-empty table. Raven gave her a curious look. "I wanted to ask.. Why'd you and Dad split up?"

Raven looked surprised, but that quickly turned to sadness. She sighed. "Your father… I loved him, very much. But we didn't always get along, and frankly, we ended up at each other's throats more often than not. He's a good man, and you were a precious and innocent little baby. And I knew your father had feelings for Summer, too.

"So, one night, I spoke with him. I told him everything I felt. Mainly about growing up in a home where my parents didn't get along, and how your Uncle Qrow and I were essentially just in the way, the very weak glue that kept our parents together. I did not want you to go through that. You were innocent, and I...I wasn't cut out to be a mother. I knew that. Summer, however, was."

She looked at Yang with a tear in her eye, her hard eyes softened by remorse and happiness both. "And seeing you now, seeing how you've grown to be such a bright and fun-loving young woman, I can tell that I made the right choice. You might not see it, but Summer was the best mother I could have ever asked to raise you."

Yang looked away, trying not to cry. "Yeah, but...did you not want me?" She looked at the floor, her shoulders shaking. Raven's words were things she felt too, and she knew that Raven was probably right, but she couldn't help but still feel abandoned. "Was I just...too much for you, or-"

"I wanted to stay, I really did Yang. But what I wanted more, was for you to become better than I could ever be and I could never bring you up to be that person." She shook her head. "I'm too harsh, too severe, too focused, and I know it. You would have ended up colder, angrier, and probably resenting me. Aside from training and Gunpla Battle, I don't even know the meaning of the word "fun" anymore… Summer, though, is nothing but fun. She always has been, even when we were in school. And I knew you and she would bond far better than you and I would. I'm...more your speed now. But I didn't want you to become like me."

Yang glanced at her, seeing that the woman that she had thought was so strong was now barely holding herself together. She faced her fully, as Raven looked up at her. "Leaving you was the hardest decision I ever had to make. But I would do it again. Because I knew it was the right decision then and still believe that now, I can tell you without a doubt that I will always wish I was like Summer, so I could have had the chance to know you."

So that's why. Yang thought she had seen a glint of regret in Raven's eye when they first met, a small twinkle that hadn't gone away. "Well, I'm right here now," Yang said, smiling. "I get it. I do. Maybe you weren't who I needed as a kid. But I'm basically an adult now. And I'd like to get to know my real mom."

Raven smiled warmly. Her heart swelled with joy at hearing those words, words that she was hoping Yang felt. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, before taking a deep breath and centering herself, collecting her thoughts, before leveling a determined gaze at her daughter. "Don't think that I will take it easy on you just because we got all emotional. Playtime is now over."

Yang smirked and slammed her fists together. "I'd be disappointed if you did. So? Another round?"

"No more practicing." The Battle System started up again as Raven took the hard light rod back into her hand and caused Astray Red Frame to move its katana into a defensive posture. "You have a long way to go before you're tournament ready. Focus, and prepare for a real fight. By this time tomorrow, I expect to see some improvement. Now, come to me!"

Yang dropped into a fighting pose, left hand out slightly, right fist by her face, body turning sideways. "Show me what you got...Mom."

Raven faltered, surprised at her word, but quickly recovered as she blocked the first heavy blow with the flat of her blade. The impact cratered the ground beneath her feet, and she couldn't help but match the excited smile on her daughter's face

Yes, she really was Tai's daughter. And now, she's starting to see a bit of herself.


	11. Character Bio: Part 5

**SEKAI KAMIKI**

**Age: 15**

**Height: 5'5"**

**School: Seiho Academy**

* * *

A middle schooler at Seiho Academy, Sekai Kamiki has become a well-known combatant in Gunpla Battle thanks to the Tri-Battle Tournament (also referred to as the All-Japan Under 19 Gunpla Battle Championship) he participated in one year ago, alongside his teammates Fumina Hoshino and Yuuma Kousaka of Team Try Fighters. A practitioner of the Jigen Haoh School of martial arts, Sekai's skill in combat, and his ability to assimilate with his Gunpla is the sole reason the Yajima Institute and PPSE devised the new Mobile Trace system, to allow Gunpla Battlers better control during fights.

Brash, arrogant, simple-minded, and straight forward, Sekai often pushes on in battle with a singular mindset, usually caring not for strategy or an opponent's superior weapons. He has full control of even the most basic functions of all of his Gunpla, which all feature virtually no weapons aside from his fists (at least until he builds the Kamiki Burning Gundam). Every machine that has spawned from his first Gunpla, the Build Burning Gundam, is a perfect extension of his will and body.

Generally, Sekai tends to be so focused on a challenge and training he is short-sighted on experiences around him. He is completely oblivious or at least appears to be, that Fumina, Shia Kijima, and Gyanko all like him and often exhibit confusion when they fight over him.

He carries both the Try Burning Gundam and Kamiki Burning Gundam with him, often using the Try Burning to train and re-center himself in his natural style and the Kamiki Burning for serious fights.


	12. The Amazing Race

AN: Hi guys! ARC Alpha 12 here, just popping in for a short little statement.

Now that we are getting into the meat of the story, I think, with this chapter, people are going to see what kind of setting I'm going for. The Gundam Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try characters are being merged with both original characters and the RWBY cast, as we saw with Takeshi Iori two chapters ago and Sekai's brief appearance last chapter. But it's this chapter that gives you a good look at one of the most important characters in the universe, so sit tight!

And yes, I DO know his dialogue is very cheesy. Anyone who has watched Gundam Build Fighters Try knows this character has a flare for the dramatic. It's canon, so I have to honor that. And I won't lie, it's a heck of a lot of fun to write him.

Anyway, ENJOY!

* * *

"BATTLE START!"

Weiss circled Pyrrha, the Gyan Noblesse Oblige, squaring up Tallgeese Leonidas. The arid desert they had selected for their training provided them both with great space and room to move. Both machines were fast and agile, and both fighters favored melee combat.

And for Weiss, this was personal.

Pyrrha was perhaps the sweetest girl she had ever met. The two got along well, and Weiss had, at one point, believed that the two of them were friends.

That changed an hour ago, however, when Pyrrha took the last Nikuman after Weiss had called it. She had already bitten into it before Weiss had finished speaking, and though she had profusely apologized, even going so far as to attempt to split the bun in half for them to share. It was far too late; this was war.

Pyrrha remained planted, massive shield raised and beam saber hanging just over its edge, pointed at Weiss. She was hesitant to do this, but her opponent would not back down, and she never ran from a challenge even if it was over food.

Weiss boosted at her, stabbing with her saber at the Tallgeese. Pyrrha's reinforced shield blocked too much of her body and prevented Weiss from landing any direct hits, but that wasn't her goal.

Pyrrha bit her lip before caution signs popped up on her left and right. "Huh?" She looked around, noticing the white Rose Bits hovering behind her. She pushed Weiss away with her shield, the sub arm on her right side, raising over the edge of the shield to fire and force her opponent to back away just in time for her to spin around. Her shield deflected several beams from each of the bits, watching as they changed position in the air, trying to flank her.

She heard more caution sirens and dashed to the left, just as pin missiles from Weiss's buckler exploded where she had been. She looked around, watching the Rose Bits circle her again, opening fire. She boosted upwards, traveling into the air for a bit before backflipping, so her head was pointed towards the ground. The sub arm swiveled up and fired her beam rifle, taking several shots to scatter the bits before connecting with one of them. She fired again, following up with another shot.

Weiss growled and pulled the remaining two back. She needed to get Pyrrha into melee range…

She twisted her right wrist along the orb in her hand and selected the third weapon slot. With each new click of the orb, she began deploying small hide mines.

Pyrrha landed with a twisting pirouette and immediately dropped into a defensive stance again, sword raised back over her shield. The pink energy beam hummed in her ear.

"Weiss, we don't have to keep doing this," Pyrrha said. "It was just a meat bun."

"It's not about the meat bun," she replied angrily. "It's about the principle! You don't just eat the last bit without asking!" She had the Rose Bits open fire at the ground in front of Pyrrha, before following up with a pin missile barrage from her shield. Pyrrha boosted forward, dodging the beams, and planted her right foot on the ground to pivot to the side, allowing the missiles to pass her harmlessly. She fired her beam rifle again, narrowly missing one of the Rose Bits as it flew out of the way. The beam impacted Weiss's shield, burning some of the anti-beam coating away. She gritted her teeth.

'_Just what I would expect from the former European Champion,' _Weiss thought to herself. She watched as Pyrrha pushed off of her foot and boosted towards her again, deflecting incoming beams with her shield.

Weiss smirked and boosted backward, narrowly missing a slash from the Tallgeese. She watched as the air around the machine ignited, the hide mines detonating together below her and engulfing the Tallgeese Leonidas in fire and explosions.

Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Ruby sat, watching from the sidelines in shock as the two battled, and as the Tallgeese was smothered, Jaune gasped. "Pyrrha!" he shouted, knowing full well that the hard light cockpits were soundproof, but he couldn't stop himself.

Ren looked on passively, while Nora gritted her teeth, biting into her sweet bread but stopping at that point, unable to take her eyes off the battle. Ruby casually sipped on her soda, silver eyes watching the duel, and taking mental notes on Weiss's machine for future team strategies.

Weiss grinned as the fire and smoke swirled, the last of the hide mines finally exploding. But her expression quickly changed to surprise as a yellow beam shot one of the Rose Bits out of the sky, while a storm of bullets tore through the other one. The Tallgeese boosted upwards, firing its head-mounted Vulcan cannons at Weiss, forcing her to defend herself. It closed the distance and slammed its shield into Weiss's, knocking her out of the air. She landed hard on the ground, her mono eye shifting upwards to focus on Pyrrha, who was circling for another pass.

She landed hard in front of the Gyan, and the two began trading sword and shield blows. The Tallgeese appeared worse for wear but was still far from disabled, and it showed; every movement was as fluid as ever, and Weiss did her best to block and parry each thrust and slash with her own. Weiss had always thought in close quarters; she could take Pyrrha, but now…

She stabbed at Pyrrha, who swiveled away. Tallgeese dodged the blow, but the sword pierced her beam cannon, disabling it. The sub arm threw the weapon behind her as it exploded, and she spun back to attack the Gyan.

A shield bash from Pyrrha knocked the Gunpla skyward, and it landed hard on its back. Its backpack sparked, damaged from the fall, and Weiss started to stand, only to find the Tallgeese hovering above her, beam saber pointed at its chin.

Weiss sighed, disappointed. "I concede," she admitted sadly, summoning the holographic button and pressing it.

"CONCESSION ACCEPTED. BATTLE ENDED."

The table despawned its battlefield, leaving the two Gunpla motionless in the center. Pyrrha smiled hopefully at Weiss. "I hope we can go back to being friends now?" she asked.

Weiss nodded, her expression changing from one of sadness to a hopeful smile. "Yes, of course. I wasn't truly serious anyway. Just angry."

"I'm sorry, Weiss, I-"

"It's just a Nikuman, right?" Weiss interrupted, shrugging it off. "I'll make sure to get the next one."

Ruby scrunched her nose up. "They put out more right after you started fighting," she said, though her words were muffled.

Weiss looked over at her partner and noticed she was holding a meat bun. No. She was EATING a meat bun. "RUBY ROSE!"

Nora grinned, and a spark rose in her eyes. "Here, we go again. I want a turn! Let me at 'em!"

The door to the battle table room at the hobby shop they were at slid open. A tall young man with brown hair and a pleasant smile entered, watching the group of friends. Everyone's eyes turned to him, unsure if he had seen the sign hanging on the door stating the room was in use.

"Sorry to barge in on you all," he said, his English influenced by the subtlest of Japanese accents. "I wanted to see the battle that seemed to be passionately happening here. It seems I missed it."

Ruby nearly dropped her meat bun. Weiss and Pyrrha stared at the man, dumbfounded. Ren immediately identified him, his face slowly morphing into shock.

"M-m-m-m-m-" Ruby stuttered, handing her Nikuman off to Jaune, who appeared so lost.

"Uh, Ruby? Are you okay?" he asked, taking the bun so it wouldn't get all over his special hoodie.

"M-M-M-Meijin Kawaguchi III?!" Ruby blurted out, dumbfounded.

The man Ruby called the Meijin immediately closed the door to the room, knowing that people would be looking for the Meijin in a matter of moments. He already heard excited gasps and footsteps outside, searching for autographs. "Please, you don't need to be so formal with me," he said, a charming smile on his face as he raised his hands to settle Ruby down. "I'm not here on official Gunpla business, just as a hobbyist and Gunpla enthusiast, like yourselves. So call me Tatsuya Yuuki, if you would."

"Of course, Mister Meiji-I mean, Mister Yuuki!" Ruby grinned happily. Yuuki laughed. He liked her spunk.

"It always warms my heart to see people giving their all to Gunpla Battle." He approached the table and inspected both the Gyan and Tallgeese there, taking a special interest in the intricate detailing of the custom Sleeves motif of the Gyan and the careful weathering of the Tallgeese. "And I can tell, just from looking at your Gunpla, that you have given your heart and soul to them. They are fine machines."

"Ah, thank you," Weiss replied, bowing with respect as she accepted the praise and trying to hide the blush on her pale skin. "Gyan Noblesse Oblige is my pride and joy."

He turned to Pyrrha and then to Ruby. "And you are the European Champion from two years ago, Pyrrha Nikos. I admit, your sudden departure from the tournament scene was a bit of a shock to the community. You were quite entertaining to watch."

Pyrrha rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, it was a shock to me too. When my father took a job in America, I decided to move with him to study abroad. Although I still played Gunpla Battle whenever I can."

Yuuki nodded. "So I've seen. Your elegance in a fight is rivaled only by your humbleness. And speaking of America…."

his eyes turned to the other three and set his gaze on Ruby. "That must make you Ruby Rose, the American Northwest Regional Champion. Your fight for the Regional spot made waves across the Gunpla community. It was impressive, to say the least."

Both Pyrrha and Ruby looked at him with star-struck expressions. _'Yuuki Senpai noticed me!' _they both thought together.

"Hey Jaune, you're about to lose your girlfriend." Nora gleefully ribbed him in the side, teasing him with a slightly sadistic grin on her face.

"No, I'm not," Jaune said. "I don't even know who he is. How can I lose Pyrrha to him?"

"And there is the pride before the fall," Ren commented, arms crossed and eyes closed. "Or perhaps it is 'ignorance is bliss?'"

Ruby looked at Jaune, dumbfounded. "YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF THE KING OF GUNPLA?!"

Jaune leaned away from her, surprised. Ruby leaned forward. "Uh, no?"

"He's the only person to win three back to back World Championships, taking home the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth World Championship with ease, and almost took home the Eleventh. Sei Iori defeated him in the finals!"

Yuuki chuckled modestly, a little embarrassed. "I'd hardly say it was easy. Few have giving challenge me as much as Sei Iori."

"He's also one of the most prestigious builders in the world, and the face of the Plavsky Particle System Engineering, the people behind the creation of the Gunpla Battle Table! He represented PPSE in every tournament, and tours the world promoting Gunpla Battle!"

"I assure you, it's far more tedious than it sounds," Yuuki explained. "Which is why I was hoping you could drop the title for a bit. I want to be a Gunpla builder today, not the Meijin."

Ruby swiveled to look at him. "Is it that tiring?"

"Yes. I've been the Third Meijin Kawaguchi for nearly eight years now. It has plenty of perks, and I do very much enjoy the ability to tour around and watch and inspire future Gunpla Battle Masters, but it is still hard work. I seldom get a chance just to be myself, which was why I came here today, to watch others play and build, not as the Meijin, but as myself. It's important not to let the role _completely _swallow you up."

Jaune smiled. "Well, I don't see why one more person sitting with us wouldn't hurt. If you don't mind a bit of crazy. I mean, Pyrrha and Weiss were fighting over a meat bun."

Weiss shot Jaune a hard look. "Excuse me?" She said curtly, hands on her hips. How dare he say such blasphemy in front of the Meijin! "'Crazy?' What's that supposed to mean?"

Jaune put his hands up defensively, expecting her to throw her shoe at him. Yuuki laughed, before noticing something Ruby was holding. He walked over to her, looking at the Gunpla in her lap she had been building before eating the Nikuman.

As he got closer, his eyes lit up.

"Miss Rose, is that your Zaku?"

Ruby looked up at him and giggled. "Call me Ruby. Miss Rose is my mom. And yeah! I just built it. Wanna see?"

"Would you mind?"

"Nope!" She handed the red Zaku to him. It was based on the Gundam: The Origin Char's Zaku II kit, but had Johnny Ridden's Zaku II High Mobility Type R2 legs. The astonishing thing to Yuuki was that the kit had a Blaze Silhouette pack from Gundam SEED Destiny on its back-a pack that shouldn't be compatible with the Origin Zaku kits. Its head was also that of a ZAKU Phantom from SEED Destiny, with a slightly larger than normal neck custom-built to accommodate the ZAKU Phantom Fritz Helm-like design. It also had two spiked shoulder pads, one from Johnny's Zaku II and one from The Origin kit. They were slightly mismatched in details and spike length but were still expertly trimmed, and panel lined. And yet...

"Did you put this together?" Yuuki asked, astonished, eyeing the backpack's connection. The detail and the retooling were all top-notch. The kit had not been painted yet, but that was not surprising, considering the setting. He gently turned it over on his hands. A spark lit in his mind as he examined it.

"Yeah! Just a little bit ago! I used the computer and 3D printer here to create a compatible connector for the Blaze Silhouette to mount onto, so it could work with the Zaku Origin body. The Johnny Ridden shoulder is only temporary until I get another Origin Zaku kit, but overall, I like it! I call it the Blaze Zaku Crimson Comet!"

Yuuki smirked. "You know that they refer to me as the Crimson Comet because I used to use a custom red Zaku called the Zaku Amazing, right?"

Ruby blushed. "Yeah...I might have named it after you… and wasn't it because of the Hi-Nu Gundam Vrabe Amazing that got you that nickname?"

Yuuki nodded flattered. "Well, I'm surprised. You've done your homework. Not many know about that."

"You're a hero of mine; I hope to one day be as good as you are," Ruby admitted. "Plus I saw the interview you did last year. I don't think very many people knew that about you."

He looked the kit over again, noticing the lack of accessories. "I see you don't have weapons for it."

"Yeah, it's not meant for combat," Ruby admitted. "I'm building it to test myself."

Yuuki gave her a puzzled look. "Test what, exactly?"

"I want to test how fast I can go with my REAL Gunpla, the one I'm entering in the Doubles Tournament! I need to see if I need to tune it up or alter any of its design. Mainly it's speed and agility. I was going to use Char Aznable's adaptive AI with the Blaze Zaku Crimson Comet for that, and race it on a predetermined course to test my Gunpla's speed and mobility."

The young girl's plan caught Yuuki off guard. Was she that confident to take on Gundam's infamous "Red Comet" in a race, despite the AI using a machine built for literal blazing speed?

What kind of Gunpla had she built?

"If you don't mind, perhaps I can be of assistance?" he offered, his blood starting to boil with excitement. "I wouldn't mind using your Zaku against your custom machine, instead of letting you face the AI."

Ruby froze dead, unable to process the request. The most famous Gunpla Battler in the world, the face of the sport...wanted to use her simple kitbash?

After a moment of stunned silence, Weiss sighed. "Ruby, he asked you a question."

Yuuki laughed, amused by the young builder's speechlessness. "It's okay if you say no. I won't take offense, and-"

"Please!" Ruby blurted out. "I'd be honored if you used my kitbash to test me! You'd provide easily more of a challenge than the AI, and if you are okay with using my machine in its state right now, I'd love to race you!"

"Alright. Let me just get accustomed to it." He stood up. "Do you mind giving me a moment to test it myself?"

Ruby shook her head. "No! Go ahead! I'll grab my Gunpla and join you shortly!"

She handed him the custom GP Base for the Zaku, and he approached the battle table. The entire room fell silent as Yuuki placed the Zaku and GP Base down, and launched into space.

"I can't believe this," Weiss said under her breath, the electricity in the air making her anxious.

Jaune kept his eye on him. "So, is he really that good?"

Ruby nodded as she grabbed her carrying case from her bag. "Oh yeah," she said with the biggest, happiest grin she could wear.

He twisted and turned his wrists on the orbs, moving them back and forth, making the Blaze Zaku Crimson Comet zip through space with the skill and grace of a dancer. The movements were fluid, sound, and he could see that the machine was more than capable of surpassing its simple snap-fit design. He was already getting ideas, and he grinned, a new Gunpla building itself in his mind, just as the Zaku Amazing, AZ Gundam, Amazing Red Warrior, and so many others had before it.

And it was beautiful.

"The nimbleness," he said out loud, "the agility, the speed and precision...yes, I feel it. This is truly a phenomenal machine!"

The others watched in awe. Jaune's mouth hung open. "Comment fait-il ça? (How is he doing that?)"

"His control isn't just refined; it's nearly perfect," Weiss noted. "Even with a quickly built kitbash…"

"Ruby Rose," Yuuki said, bringing the Zaku to a stop and slicking his hair back. "I regret that I can't face you like I wanted to. But this mobile suit, as imperfect as it may be, has lit a fire in me that I can't simply ignore. I can feel your passion through this Gunpla. Your spirit resides in it, as hot as any sun. So, I won't be facing you as Tatsuya Yuuki, but as Meijin Kawaguchi III!"

Pyrrha and Ruby both squealed in excitement. Jaune rolled his eyes. "A bit overly dramatic, I think…"

"Perhaps," Ren admitted, "but it's his way of challenging Ruby to bring her best. Now, she's going to need to match his commitment. And judging by her reaction, I doubt she will disappoint him."

Ruby ran up and stood on the holographic pad, which immediately registered her and formed a cockpit. She placed her GP Base and her Gunpla, grinning as she saw it standing before her for the first time.

The TV monitors above the table focused on the new addition, and everyone looked on in amazement.

Even the Meijin took notice, glancing over and admiring the machine. "That's…."

The Gunpla was based around the Destiny Gundam but have had parts replaced. The main body was that of the Gundam Deathscythe, as were the legs. The shoulders were not the same as Deathscythe's, as they had unique curves that streamlined the pieces, but the overall aesthetics were visible, and one could easily see the inspiration behind them as being from the Gundam Wingsuit.

The wings of Destiny were fit with a similar converter piece that Ruby had used for the Zaku. The overall design looked so similar to the basic Destiny Gundam, painted in black, white, and two shades of red, that at first glance, one would see it as a simple redesign. But when observed on the big screen, the details she had put into it popped like they deserved to be recognized.

The Meijin also noticed there were clear, sparkly pieces on the backpack and shoulders, replacing some of the armor with a unique Plavsky Particle-resonating plastic that he'd seen on only a select few other Gunpla. He grinned.

"The quality of your Gunpla is top-notch," he said. "I dare say it could be Gunpla Grand Prix-level worthy."

"Thanks! I've been hoping to enter at some point to compete against other builders, but traveling overseas is expensive." Ruby grabbed hold of the orbs in front of her. "Ruby Rose, Gundam Destiny Scythe, let's goooooo!"

The Gundam crouched and rocketed forward, flying towards the Zaku and putting its feet out to stop itself as it closed in.

The Meijin clicked onto the right orb and twisted his wrist upwards to select the option for a race. "COMBAT MODE SET TO RACE," the table announced. "FIELD CHANGE."

The space around the two Gunpla warped and flashed, before reappearing before them. Still in space, but now a field of sparking shoal zone made of destroyed warships, mobile suits, and a space colony.

"The Thunderbolt Sector?" Ruby examined the area. The Thunderbolt Sector was notoriously difficult to maneuver, as the massive amount of debris and spontaneous lightning shocks branching between the pieces moved into the zone exceptionally difficult. Most machines needed anti-beam coating or a series of shields mounted to moving sub arms to protect themselves from the hazards, and even then, it was still a risky endeavor to fly through there.

Neither the Blaze Zaku Crimson Comet or the Gundam Destiny Scythe had such defensive systems. They'd have to fly and do their best to navigate the shoal zone, flying waypoint to waypoint at top speed, avoiding the obstacles in their way as they went.

"A fittingly challenging spot to race." The Meijin looked over at the video display at his right. "When you're ready, I will start the countdown."

"Ready!"

The countdown flashed on the screen for both of them, and as it hit one, both machines began to charge their thrusters. At zero, a signal sounded, and both Gunpla jettisoned forward at incredible speeds.

Ruby checked the path; the course that the computer had laid out was straight through the shoal zone. She swung her hard light orbs back and forth, testing the reaction time of the Destiny Scythe in flight. "Hmm, it drifts to the left a bit…"

She noticed the Meijin, just ahead of her. His Zaku wasn't too far away, certainly within an easily closed distance. She grinned as the predicted navigational warnings began popping up, small bits of debris hitting their Gunpla as they entered the ravaged field.

She activated her beam shield on her left arm and let it take the brunt of an impact from a large chunk of metal, which bounced off the shield harmlessly. She watched the Zaku boost up and over a larger piece, the engine of a Salamis cruiser, while she dipped below it. The first checkpoint appeared before them as a holographic ring, which both cleared, and abruptly changed course to the left to head for the next point.

The two zipped through the destroyed colony's midsection and around a derelict Musai cruiser as they cleared the second and third checkpoints, dodging lightning strikes and chunks of metal as they went. The Zaku broke through a fractured piece of glass, causing the light from another lightning bolt to glitter in space as a dazzling light show that Ruby flew threw, coming up even with the Meijin on their way to the next checkpoint, which appeared to their right.

They zipped ninety degrees and dodged a floating hunk of a Zanzibar battleship. Ruby circled a Magellan-class warship that had a massive hole blasted through it, where the smaller Zaku flew through the length of the hole and appeared slightly ahead of her on the other side.

"I must say, the handling of this machine under pressure is surprising me," the Meijin said on her right, a display with his face popping up as she made a course correction. "Even after testing it, it still impresses me such a simple, incomplete kitbash has this much quality behind it." He glanced back at the Destiny Scythe. "And your Tournament Gunpla is a true work of art."

"Oh, well, I appreciate-" Ruby started to say but was cut off when a warning siren blared in her ear. She spun Destiny Scythe to the left and raised both beam shields just as one of the Thunderbolt Sector's famous massive electrical discharges came from the colony, bouncing around the field's various pieces of debris, before heading straight for her. She tanked the brunt of the blow with her beam shields, but the immense discharge knocked her sideways and sent her spinning into a chunk of a Musai's hull, bouncing off of it hard and spinning away, disabled.

The Meijin stopped and turned around as she hit the chunk of a starship. Watching as she struggled to regain control, he paused, but only for a moment. Her course sent her into deep space, and he could see that she was attempting to restart her Gundam, but had no luck.

"Come on...come one…" Ruby said under her breath, moving the orbs back and forth and clicking on them to try and get some response from Destiny Scythe. She pushed the orbs forward and down, and the machine started powering back up, slowly, it's systems rebooting after the strike. Her view screen appeared first, spinning as the Gunpla headed away from the track, and the preprogrammed map popped up a few seconds later, showing her that she had been knocked far off course.

Her HUD was tinted a warning yellow, indicating critical damage, and she looked over the extent the bolt had done. Her beam shields were offline, and her elbows were damaged. Otherwise, her Gunpla appeared to be fine, and after a few testing sweeps, she deemed it still flyable.

Jaune sighed as he watched. "Dieu merci (thank goodness)... I was worried there."

Weiss shook her head. "This is Ruby we're talking about. Of course, she's fine." She said the words with confidence, but the look on her face spoke volumes. She knew how a loss to the Meijin without fully showing off her abilities would hit her friend hard.

Ruby re-oriented herself with the course and looked ahead. The Meijin has started once again and already had two more checkpoints cleared. Ruby furrowed her brows. "Not on my watch," she muttered, determination seeping from her.

She double-clicked her orbs, and a request to activate her special mode, which the computer called SEED Factor was launched. She hit the button and leaned back with her orbs.

The Gunpla's wings opened up to full extension, and a brilliant, silvery light began shining from both the wings and the eyes of the Destiny Scythe. The Plavsky Particle pieces on her backpack and shoulders began spewing stored particles, creating an ethereal silver glow around the machine to add to the brilliant silver-tinged Wings of Light Destiny Gundam was known for. The calves also opened slightly, revealing an extra thruster on each, which ignited as she boosted forward. Her speed was incredible, and she quickly began moving erratically through the debris, dodging the larger pieces with such precision it seemed almost impossible to track. The wings of the machine folded fully back behind the Destiny Scythe and catapulted it further and faster, condensing the thrust directly behind her in a way that made her essentially become a ball of white in the black sky, trailing silver particles behind her.

The Zaku's eye swiveled to the right, and the Meijin locked onto Ruby. He grinned as he watched her boost forward, jink and juke left and right without barely any negative impact to her speed. She began to close the gap on him quickly, and he nodded. "Yes, that's it, Ruby Rose. Show me your skills. Rage on!"

He pushed the Zaku even harder as Ruby caught up to him, and the Destiny Scythe was beginning to overtake him rapidly. He noticed that the Zaku also had a special mode and selected it. Like Ruby, it activated the ability of SEED Factor and caused his machine to release a brilliant amount of silver Plavsky Particles. His Gunpla shot forward at even greater speeds, and Ruby pushed Destiny Scythe in return, catching up to him and racing neck and neck against him to each checkpoint.

The two collided, locked side by side for a short time, before separating and dodging a chunk of debris. They raced the lightning coming after them, dodging the bolt and clearing another checkpoint, and then another.

Ruby roared in exertion as the orbs in her hands became more difficult to push forward, with her suit at nearly its limit. The Meijin, too, was having trouble, realizing that the Zaku could not go any faster with its current state. He watched as the Destiny Scythe cleared the shoal zone, then inch further and further into the lead, both of them dodging a bolt of electricity.

The Destiny Scythe proved the superior machine, as was expected, as soon it was meters ahead of the Zaku. Ruby crossed the line a full three seconds before the Blaze Zaku Crimson Comet.

"RACE COMPLETED. EVENT ENDED."

Both the Meijin and Ruby slowed and came to a stop, hovering before each other. Ruby was hollering in excitement, panting and dancing in her holographic cockpit, right up until it disappeared around her. She paused mid-butt wiggle and spun around, standing at attention before her idol, her face as red as her hoodie. The Meijin laughed and shook his head, running his hand through his hair, pushing it back in place.

"Very good," he said proudly. "Both of your Gunpla have remarkable amounts to love behind them."

Ruby grinned. The praise. The test. The excitement of being in his presence, it practically spilled from her. "Thanks! And thank you for helping me!"

He nodded before looking at the Zaku. "May I ask you a question?"

"Huh? Oh, sure!"

He picked the Gunpla up from the table. "If I reimbursed you for the money you spent to make this, may I buy it from you?"

Ruby blinked, confused. "Huh?" He...wanted to buy her Gunpla from her? It was so rough and incomplete. What could he want with something so shoddy?

"Piloting this machine-made me miss my Zaku Amazing, and gave me an idea for a new machine that I want to build. But I would like to look at this incomplete Gunpla to use as the basis of my new one." He gazed at it affectionately, before looking at her. "May I buy it from you?"

Ruby's mouth hung open, unsure as to what to say. Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Ruby. He's asking you a question again."

She sighed happily before shaking her head. "I don't want you to pay for it. I was probably only ever going to use it once, and then put it away. If you can give the Blaze Zaku Crimson Comet a place in the world, and make it famous, please-just take it. And make the best machine you can with it. That's payment enough."

She did grab the Destiny Scythe and hand it to him. "But, could you sign Destiny Scythe's wings? I'll make a brand new backpack and cherish your autograph forever!"

He laughed. "I can do that. After such a wonderful afternoon, that's the least I could do."

He exited the room shortly afterward and found a tall blonde woman in sunglasses standing outside the door. She looked at him. "You seem happy. Did you find what you were looking for?"

Yuuki shook his head. "No. But I found something else." He looked at the Zaku in his hand. "And I need to get to the PPSE to start building."

The woman smirked. "I see...I haven't seen you this fired up since you built the Amazing Red Warrior."

"You know I hate getting stuck behind one Gunpla," he admitted. "And now, I think I finally have a true successor to Amazing Red Warrior." He glanced up at her with a smile. "Perhaps one to surpass Lunagazer, Miss Kawaguchi."

"Bold claim. I can't wait to see it. Well, let's go, then." She pushed off the wall. "You can try, Meijin. Not like I'd make it that easy."


	13. Character Bio: Part 6

**TATSUYA YUUKI**

**Age: 25**

**Height: 5'11"**

**Hair: brown**

**Eyes: Green**

**Title: Meijin Kawaguchi III, The King of Gunpla**

The humble Tatsuya Yuuki is a kind and generous individual with a deep-rooted passion for the sport of Gunpla Battle. A former student at the prestigious Gunpla Academy, Yuuki, has been active in Gunpla Battle since he was seven years old (though several years were spent abroad in England studying, during which time his father-who believed his hobby was a distraction-forbade him from playing Gunpla Battle or even building. Takeshi Iori later reignited his passion). His building skills are some of the world's finest, and his desire to see others achieve the same level as he knows no bounds.

Known as the "Crimson Comet" due to a previous model kit, the Hi-Nu Gundam Vrabe Amazing that won the Nationals in Japan and garnered him a spot in the Fifth Gunpla Battle Championship, and his Char Aznable-red Zaku Amazing which took him deep into the Sixth World Championship, Yuuki was already no stranger to world-class skill by the time of the Seventh Championship, where he would meet his rivals Sei Iori and Reiji. He withdrew from the Nationals in the Semi-Finals, which would have put him against them, and instead took an offer from Plavsky Particle Systems Engineering's coach and head engineer, Allan Adams, to become the Third Meijin Kawaguchi, and serve as the face of both PPSE and Gunpla Battle, eventually meeting Reiji and Sei in the Finals of the World Tournament (though he had been forced to wear a mind-altering system called the Embody System, forcing him to focus on winning at all costs, and not the thrill of the battle, which was something he, Reiji, and Sei all wished to share).

Since losing the Seventh World Championship, Yuuki has redoubled his efforts to erase the brutal, winning-at-all-costs legacy of the Second Meijin and inspire both current and future Gunpla builders around the world, creating his signature catchphrase, "Gunpla Is Freedom!" as a tagline to promote the sport. He is the only person in the history of Gunpla Battle to have won three consecutive World Championships (the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth), and made it to the Semi-Finals of the Eleventh before being eliminated by the eventual champion, Sei Iori, in his Build Burning Gundam-the same unit that would eventually go on to be piloted by Sekai Kamiki a few years later.

As Meijin, Yuuki takes his public image very seriously and does not break character, even among friends like his (supposed) girlfriend, Lady Kawaguchi, who has since become his partner of equal esteem. He loves watching an earnest and expressive Gunpla Battle and is well known for never being content with his current Gunpla. Presently, he is known for piloting the legendary Perfect Gundam III Amazing Red Warrior, a Gunpla he built almost completely from scratch, with no real base model kit aside from the joints supposedly taken from an RX-78-2 Revive kit. However, always on the prowl for new inspiration, rumor has it the Meijin might enter the Fourteenth Gunpla World Championship with a new machine…

* * *

**LADY KAWAGUCHI**

**Age: 25**

**Height: 5'4"**

**Hair: blonde**

**Eyes: green**

Seven years ago, the Lady Kawaguchi entered the Kanto Invitational Tournament using the Stargazer Gundam, where she became someone of prominence in her grace and expert control, often called the "next Meijin" by others due to her masterful battle skills. She would go on to inspire Hoshino Fumina of Team Try Fighters, and six years after becoming Fumina's idol would serve as both her inspiration teacher to help her develop a refined version of her Winning Gundam, which she called the Star Winning Gundam.

Besides being Tatsuya Yuuki's partner in a variety of events, little is known about the young blonde woman. She tends to be much more reclusive than the Meijin Kawaguchi, appearing almost out of the ether when something catches her interest, yet at times is standing side by side with him for tournaments and events. Her true role and impact on the sport seem lessened by her choice to remain in the Meijin's shadow, but her skill at both building and piloting mobile suits is something that nobody should ever underestimate. She has been seen to go toe to toe with the Meijin on a few different occasions using older Gunpla of his design (one using the Zaku Amazing while the other used the Kampfer Amazing) and the two appear evenly matched, meaning whoever fights the Lady Kawaguchi would be fighting skills that have won the World Championship three times in a row, and thus she should not be underestimated.


	14. Burning Fists

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: So! Another month, another chapter of RWBY Build Fighters. I've reworked this one about four times and rewatched all of Gundam Build Fighters Try to describe things as accurately as possible.**

**The next few chapters are going to be rather intense on story development, and are the single most important two chapters of the story (as of right now) and so won't have any major hyped up battles or anything. But, there's plenty of those to come, so just keep in mind that I do have a story I'm telling. It's not just all Gundam fan service, and I cannot wait to hear what you guys think of what I'm about to set up. **

**However, I thought I'd give you all one last good fight, and really try and play around with some of the canon Gundam Build Fighters characters while I'm at it. I did so with Meijin last chapter, and I had even more fun this time. So I hope you all look forward to this and things to come. Some pretty cool things are waiting in the wind!**

* * *

Tai was all smiles as he watched Yang practice with Raven's other students. Blake, Weiss, and Ruby sat back, each watching Yang's spar with mild intent. All of them wound up on the mat, not knowing exactly how to approach the newcomer with the unorthodox martial arts and spitfire attitude.

Raven stood next to Tai, smiling contently. "I take it you've been running her through the wringer," she commented, noting how fluid and proficient Yang was. "She's proven to be quite the capable fighter. Although I don't see any of your family's signature style in her movements."

"Yeah, that's because she's not using it," Tai admitted. "She trains with it, often through katas and shadow boxing, but in a real fight, she won't use it unless she has to. Something about wanting to give the opponent a fighting chance."

Raven narrowed her eyes, watching her movements even closer now. She analyzed them, looking for slight details. "Holding back...so that's it."

"What do you mean?"

She watched as Yang blocked a body blow, twisting the man's arm and delivered a soft kick to the head. If she had wanted it to, could have easily knocked him out, but instead just gave him a warning blow. He backed away, surprised. "She's been so focused on trying to absorb what I've been attempting to teach her, and she hasn't allowed herself to use it."

Tai glanced at Raven, surprised, and then looked back at their daughter. "That… explain's a lot. She sometimes struggles to learn the Xiao Long style, too."

Blake glanced at them both from her manga, before looking back at Yang, who she noticed was staring straight at Sekai Kamiki. The two had crossed paths several times in the last few days, and with each crossing, the sparks between their wild spirits seemed to ignite the air with a thick tension. Both of them locked eyes at almost every moment; if anyone didn't know them any better, it would look like they were flirting. In truth, though, both of them just wanted to beat the snot out of each other. But they were sensible enough to hold back

…Barely.

Was that what Yang's parents meant? Was she saving her family-style for Sekai?

"Sekai!"

A female voice called out from the main entrance as class ended for the day. A boy with indigo-colored hair and glasses entered the room, followed by a girl with dirty blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. They approached the fiery redhead, who was also packing up. An older gentleman followed behind them. "Oh, Senpai, Yuuma, Mr. Ral. I wasn't expecting you!"

"We came to pick you up," the girl said happily. "We were going to go practice, remember?"

"Hey!" Ruby said, recognizing the two younger newcomers. She had been sitting on the ground, and they had walked right past her. She ran up to them, her eyes shining with rapidly building excitement. "Aren't you both the other two members of the Try Fighters?"

The two looked at each other and shrugged as if they hadn't gotten used to being recognized. "Yes, I'm Fumina Hoshino, the leader of the Try Fighters! And this is Yuuma Kousaka, our other teammate." Fumina looked over at Sekai. "And I guess you already met Sekai."

Ruby stood straight up and took Yuuma's hand excitedly. "I'm Ruby Rose; it's a pleasure to meet you! I have been a fan of your work since you won the Gunpla Grand Prix! The Lightning Gundam you built is one of the best takes on the Re-GZ that I've ever seen, and it left such an amazing impression on me that I-"

"Ruby," Yang cut in, rolling her eyes. "You're doing it again."

Ruby blushed and let go of Yuuma's hand. "S-sorry!"

Yuuma chuckled. "No, it's alright. I'm grateful that you appreciate my work so much."

Ruby giggled and turned to the older man as he approached. He looked familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

"You may call me Ral," he said, introducing himself. "I am the Try Fighters' coach. I coached Reiji and Sei Iori several years ago during-"

"During the Seventh World Championship, that's right!" Ruby exclaimed. "That's why you look so familiar! It's an honor to meet you!"

Ral rubbed the back of his head and smiled, embarrassed. "Well, normally it's just my protégés that get that reaction. I'm not quite used to this…"

'He looks just like Ramba Ral from the original Gundam,' Ruby thought, admiring the uncanny similarities between the fictional character and the man standing before her.

Blake smirked, watching her younger friend gush, but her yellow eyes flicked back to the center of the room, where she saw Sekai move. The tension in the room hit a peak as he did, and she could only guess what would happen next.

"Hey, Yang," Sekai said, approaching her. She looked over at him, noticing he was taping his wrists up. "You wanna have that match now?"

"Sekai, we're not here to wait for you," Yuuma scolded. "We need to tune up our Gunpla."

"Oh, there will be plenty of time for that," Yang said, turning to face him. "I thought you'd never ask. I've been itching to get in the arena with you and wipe that smug grin off your face."

Yuuma sighed in frustration. He pushed his glasses up higher. "Oh no… Now there are two of them."

Fumina and Ruby both laughed nervously at each other. Raven approached Yang, concerned. "You do remember what I told you when you two first met, right?"

Yang grinned. "Yeah, but that just makes me wanna fight him more, honestly. I want to see where I stand, how high that wall is so I can climb it, and get stronger myself."

Raven gave her an appraising look before closing her eyes. "I won't stop you. But consider that your last warning."

Sekai nodded, his excitement building. "Let's go, then!"

The two-headed for their bags, where Yang brought out the Burning Gundam Echelon and Sekai pulled out his own Gunpla. "I'll fight you with Try Burning Gundam," he said. "I want this to be a fun match, and I know you and Raven-Sensei have been learning how to unlock your power, so I think that'll be good."

"Pick whatever you like, I'll still wipe the floor with you," Yang said confidently, as they both took their places on the platform of the table.

Yuuma looked at Ruby. "Is she always like this?"

She nodded, giving him an apologetic look. "Yeah….she likes a good fight, and has been watching Sekai non-stop for the last week. I think her girlfriend is getting tired of hearing his name."

She nodded to Blake, who shrugged. "Not really," she admitted with a little chuckle. "If anything, it's cute to see Yang this worked up to fight someone. She hasn't been this excited in a while."

"GUNPLA BATTLE COMBAT MODE START UP! MODEL DAMAGE LEVEL SET TO C! PLEASE SET YOUR GP BASE! FIELD 11-CASTLE!"

Yang smiled and planted Burning Echelon on the GP Base when prompted, with Sekai doing the same.

Yuuma glared at Yang's machine, a mix of repulsion and curiosity on his face. "It's definitely functional...but the craftsmanship is a bit amateurish. Almost like she just chose parts from other Gunpla and fit them together."

"Well, you're not wrong," Weiss admitted. "But just because it's a kitbash doesn't mean it isn't a formidable machine."

Ruby looked over the Try Burning. "The number of spots for particle emissions on the armor is astounding. The lack of armor in certain places seem to be a little concerning, but I've studied Sekai's fighting style, and he seems to compensate well."

Weiss glanced at Ruby, joining her in standing with the group, "Does Yang stand a chance?"

"Maybe…" Her eyes drifted over to Burning Echelon. "They may share the name 'Burning,' but they are very, very different. Yang has no natural spots for enhanced Plavsky Particle release, and her machine is a redesigned kitbash of Shining, God, and Duel Gundam, mostly, unlike the Try Burning, who is designed for maximum particle emission and essentially it's own design. Meaning if Sekai assimilates and activates Burning Burst, I don't know if Yang's Berserker mode can keep up with it."

"She can keep up," Tai said confidently. "Sekai's martial arts school and my family's both are exceptionally potent. And if Yang catches on with how he fights...that could be the equalizer."

"You know Sekai's style?" Fumina asked, curious. Tai nodded.

"I've fought only one Jigen Haoh style user before, and that school of martial arts is pretty rare and selective. So I know my family's signature style can keep up with it, though I'll admit, I lost that fight." He looked at Yang, who took her position in the holographic cockpit. "The question is: can Yang?"

Ral studied both of them. "Their spirits appear to be ablaze…"

"The features of the Gunpla don't determine the winner of the battle," Raven added. "Even still... Yang has the odds stacked against her. "

"Yang Xiao Long, Burning Gundam Echelon, breaking faces!"

"Sekai Kamiki, Try Burning Gundam, let's go!"

The two Gunpla catapulted forward, and each landed before one another on the roof of the simulated European castle, seemingly ripped out of a fairy tale. The two stood, closely watching the other, before the Try Burning fell into a martial arts pose-left arm bent to its side, right hand up and forward, legs crouching.

"I hope you're ready," Sekai stated.

Yang put her left arm forward, fist angled down, with her right hand up near her chest, the long flowing hair of the Nobell Gundam hanging down behind her. "Bring it, Burning Boy. Show me what you got!"

Sekai clenched his fists and charged, the Try Burning swinging a mighty blow at Yang, who dodged slightly to the right and connected with her fist. Sekai's other hand blocked it, but the strike suddenly gained extra momentum from a sudden thruster burst on the back end of the customized Shining Gundam gauntlet, which forced Yang's fist even harder than normal into Sekai and knocked the Try Burning backward.

He quickly hit the ground, bouncing up before flipping and pulling off a single handstand that landed him on his feet so he could skid to a stop. Yang pulled her right fist back and resumed her pose.

"Heh, not bad," Sekai said with a smile, standing up.

"Wait, when did Yang add boosters to her gauntlets?" Weiss asked.

"Two days ago," Blake said. "She wanted to increase the force of her punches, as well as use the gauntlets for mobility, so she replaced the shotguns with thrusters and put another thruster on the back end of each gauntlet so she can catapult herself to the side or backward in a pinch. Or add extra force to her blows."

Yang was the one who pressed the attack this time, moving her right hand into a body blow, which Sekai easily pushed away with a palm strike to the forearm. Yang fired the front thruster on that arm and sent herself into a spinning backhand, which Sekai deflected, and countered her with a second palm strike to her back, pushing her away before swinging a front shin kick at her head.

Yang fired her gauntlet's front thrusters as she ducked the blow to boost backward and land an elbow to the side of the Try Burning, knocking him off balance. He stumbled but recovered with a roundhouse kick that connected with Yang's temple and floored the Burning Echelon. The roof of the castle cracked slightly on her impact with it, cobblestone chunks becoming displaced as she hit the ground.

Sekai backed up and fell back into his pose, smiling as Yang got up, looking at him from a kneeling position. The two were just toying with each other, gauging each other's skills, and both knew that the other was holding back. "How about trying this?" He called out as Yang returned to her feet. He charged her again, fist raised.

"Come one, show me what you got!"

"Jigen Haoh school….Shippu-Zuki!" Sekai's fist began stirring the air around it, acting as if it was about to breach the sound barrier as he launched a focused punch straight at Yang. The power of the blow was easily seen, just from the effect it had on the air around them.

Yang met him halfway, boosting forward and delivering her own, jet-propelled fist directly into his. The resulting explosion from the impact, the disruption of the air from Sekai's fist, and the abrupt shift in Plavsky Particles caused an incredible impact and crater to form directly below them on the roof of the castle, blowing chunks of concrete in all directions. Both machines struggled to gain ground; their fists pushed against each other in an unrelenting matching of power.

Both Sekai and Yang gritted their teeth, before realizing neither would back down. They both landed and pushed backward, putting distance between them. Yang fell into a boxing pose, while Sekai returned to his original martial arts stance. He flexed his right hand slightly. "Hmmm...wow, it's been a while since someone met me head-on like that." He grinned again, the tingling in his hand subsided.

"Woah...she stopped his blow," Fumina commented, mouth open in surprise. "When was the last time someone did that?"

"Not since last year, I think," Yuuma answered. He looked over at Yang, who appeared just as excited as Sekai was. He began reassessing his judgment of her Gunpla after seeing it so easily repel Sekai.

"My turn. I hope you're ready," Yang announced, before charging. Sekai hunkered down as Yang closed in, her right fist raised over her head. She was just above Sekai, ready to deliver an overhead blow, when she noted he shifted position just ever so slightly, dodging the attack.

She smirked, and fired her wrist gauntlet downwards, narrowly dodging the incoming fist that should have connected with her back. She fired them again, sending her spinning into a heel kick that nailed the Try Burning in the face, forcing Sekai to backpedal as she landed. She charged him again, ducking his next blow and hitting him with a jab to the chin. She boosted her recoil with the front thruster, pulling her arm back faster, before launching a second punch.

Sekai caught her wrist this time, though, and hollered. "Jigen Haoh school! Soten Guren-Ken!"

The uppercut caught Yang square in the jaw, completely unguarded. She went flying into the air, pieces of plastic chipping off of her Gunpla, and shot several simulated meters upwards before she fired her wrist gauntlets and flipped over to land in a crouched pose.

The next charge came from both of them rushing, their blood pounding in their ears. Yang sucked the next blow, connecting with an elbow to the face and following it up with a palm strike to Sekai's cheek. However, he caught her with a weak punch, which tilted her head enough to stop her advance. She stood back up and blocked a blow with her forearm, but took a kick to the knee pit. She fell but boosted upwards immediately in an attempt to knee Sekai in the face.

He dodged, backing up, before grabbing her ankle and trying to pull her towards him. She countered with a downward cross jab, firing her thrusters and connecting with his clavicle area as he tried again to back a step. She landed and pressed forward, beginning to mix boxing blows up with motions Sekai immediately became unfamiliar with. He countered several attacks, but an open palm strike to his temple rocked him, followed by sidekick to his midsection and a punch that connected simultaneously and sent him staggering to the left. He managed to catch the next attack and slammed his palm into her chin, backing her up enough for a kick to the face that caused her to stumble.

Raven watched, nodding. "Now, I see where your style is coming in," she said. "She mixed the Xiao Long martial arts with kickboxing and added the easier mobility Gunpla Battle affords to add to it things she normally cannot do. Not as flashy as the Jigen Haoh style, but effective."

"Oh, she makes it flashy," Tai replied. "She's still holding back. I think she's purposefully not taking this seriously."

Fumina shot Tai a confused look. "But why? That seems like a stupid move to do against Sekai. Especially now that she sees how strong he is."

"She's like me," Tai said. "She's not looking to win, right now. She's looking to learn. To see what makes Sekai as strong as he is. And until she sees it, she won't fight for real."

"Assimilation." Yuuma watched as Yang stood back up. "She wants to see the Burning Burst, and is just giving Sekai a taste of what she can do to excite him." He shook his head. "They are the same person. She already knows what makes him tick."

Blake smiled. "Yeah, because it's what she would want someone to do to her. Tease her to draw out her full potential."

"Come on, Sekai," Yang called out, motioning with her fist to come to get some more, "I'm trying to fire you up! You're still holding back!"

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake collectively groaned. Fumina and Yuuma looked mortified. "Did...she just say that, while they are both piloting 'Burning' Gundams?" Fumina asked Ruby.

"No matter what you have heard, that woman is not my sister!" Ruby shouted, pointing at Yang.

Yang activated her external camera, noticing and hearing Ruby, and snickered. "What's the matter, sis? My joke's too hot for you?"

"Sekai! KICK HER BUTT!" Ruby shouted.

"Hey, traitor!"

Sekai laughed at the sisters' antics, thoroughly enjoying this. "Wow, I like you guys!"

"Fumina, if Sekai starts saying puns, I vote to kick him off of the Try Fighters," Yuuma said with a deadpan expression.

"I might consider it…" Fumina responded in a similar manner.

Raven shot Tai an annoyed look. "She certainly didn't get that from me…" she muttered. Tai just shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

Sekai shot a fist forward at Yang. "You want my best? I'll meet your fist with mine!" he yelled, before closing his eyes. The blue, sparkling bits of the Try Burning began glowing a potent orange as if the Gunpla itself was starting to catch fire.

"Now we're talking!" Yang stood up and slammed her fists together, Burning Echelon glowing an angry pinkish-red. The hair of the Gunpla flowed freely, Yang dropped into a new stance, left forearm out for defense, right fist near her face.

Raven grunted. "I warned her that her Berserker mode stood no chance against Assimilation. She'll have to find that out the hard way, I suppose."

Yang shot forward, boosting until she reached Sekai. She planted her left foot down and swung her right fist at his face, which he easily ducked. She fired the booster on her left gauntlet and delivered a blow straight at his chest, which staggered him. He grunted, feeling the impact as if it had hit him directly. He recovered quickly, planting his back foot and blocking her next blow to counter with a swinging kick to the side.

Yang was sent flying to the right, landing hard. She looked up to see Sekai pressing the attack, and she brought her forearms up in a defensive stance to block the next two blows. She moved to the left to avoid a downward chop and went to deliver a punch to the face, only to have Sekai grab her wrist and pull her into an open palm strike to the face that floored her.

She blinked, surprised. He was moving much better now, much more fluid. His blows were connecting more regularly, and, as she looked over the damage he was inflicting, she noted that her Gunpla was taking a much greater beating than moments ago.

"So this is the power Raven was talking about…" Yang felt the excitement coursing through her, inspiration beginning to stir. She stood up and Sekai backed off, feeling lighter, happier. This was what she wanted. This was the kind of fight that set her blood on fire.

Sekai charged her, but she sidestepped. Easily. In fact, it was far easier than before. Shimmering Plavsky Particles began leaking from her vernier thrusters as she boosted, dodging and weaving and deflecting incoming blows.

Sekai gritted his teeth and moved to palm strike her, but changed at the last minute to knee her in the gut. The Burning Echelon was taken off its feet, and Yang grunted, doubling over in pain in her cockpit.

Raven, Tai, and Ral all looked on, wide eyed. "She felt that?" Tai asked.

"Hmmmmm….." Ral looked at her machine, as it mimicked her, holding her stomach. "She's assimilating, just as he has."

Blake looked at Ral, concerned. "So….she can feel what Burning Gundam Echelon feels?"

He nodded. "Yes, but she can also do much more with it. Her speed, response time, and power have all doubled, just as Sekai's has. If her Gunpla was optimized for it, she might even be able to triple it." He looked to Try Burning Gundam. "But…"

"Sekai-kun is still holding back," Fumina added.

"Burning Burst." Yuuma pushed his glasses upon his face. "He hasn't tapped into his full power because he's probably trying to fight her equally. Or is an idiot."

Yang and Sekai pushed each other back over and over, trading blows and blocks. Yang messed up and took a fist to the face, which staggered her. She noticed the impact as clear as day on her own cheek, and her hand moved up to rub it. The pain was momentary but noticeable. She felt like a bruise would form, though no physical impact had hit her specifically.

Her mind raced, trying to take it all in. The thrill, the rush, the pain, the strength… Raven had described it, but she hadn't really said it in a way that Yang understood. Not fully. Not until now.

She jumped backward and fell back into a fighting stance, ready for him.

"C'mon Sekai, stop holding back!" She shouted again. "I know you've got more in there. Show me everything you got. Give me your best shot!"

Sekai grinned back and nodded. "Alright, you asked for it!"

Pieces of his shoulders, knees, and elbows exploded off of the armor, exposing even more of the sparkling plastic underneath. These pieces then erupted into a raging inferno, burning across the body of the machine-like they could no longer be contained.

The Try Fighters and Ral looked on in anticipation, the others looking on in awe. Ruby's eyes sparkled. "Burning Burst! I never thought I could see it in person!"

Kamiki pulled his right fist back, which became engulfed in flames. "Houou Haoh-Ken!" he cried, thrusting his fist out, which shot all the stored fire around it forward. The blast took the form of a massive blazing phoenix, which rocketed towards Yang at incredible speed.

She waited until it had closed much of the distance, and then she shot her wrist verniers downwards to propel herself up and over the phoenix. She flipped in the air, narrowly dodging the wing of the attack, before boosting forward and preparing to strike Sekai. He moved his flaming arm upwards to block to blow, taking it and being pushed back across the castle ground. His forearm cracked, fracturing from the impact, and Sekai winced in pain.

He pulled his left fist back. "Jigen Haoh School, Ryusei Rasen-Ken!" The left fist of the Try Burning began spinning, creating a fireball around his hand that impacted the Burning Echelon right in the abdomen.

The blow sent Yang's Gunpla flying backward, the shockwave of the impact radiating through her body. She collapsed onto one knee; her eyes shut as she struggled to regain her composure. She fell onto her rear, and Burning Echelon struggled to stand, before collapsing onto the ground, it's energy completely spent.

"BATTLE OVER!"

The field and the cockpits disintegrated, and Ruby ran up to Yang, kneeling by her side as she lay on her back for a moment. Blake was right there with her in an instant, having discarded her manga. "Yang! Are you okay?" Ruby asked worry etched across her face.

Yang grunted, holding her right side. "Yeah. I just feel like I cracked a rib or something, but I'm okay."

"Impressive," Ral commented. "Most individuals pass out from the pain they experience during their first Assimilation. The effort and exertion often is too much for them to handle."

Yang looked at her dad and laughed. "Pain's nothing new to me. Training with my dad, I've broken bones and hurt myself more times than I can count. It's part of our family's martial arts style. If you don't feel the pain, you aren't pushing hard enough." She smiled at Sekai. "It just took me by surprise that you can hit me that hard with just Gunpla."

"Right? The first time it happened to me and I got hit, I had a cut on my cheek and felt like I had been run over!" Sekai laughed and walked over to offer his hand, which she took. "I was out for a day! I still don't know why it does that, but I don't care you don't become a great martial artist by avoiding pain, you face it head-on!"

Weiss sighed and shook her head. "Will the two meatheads get off the stage? I'm pretty sure we have seen enough of your bravado for one day."

Sekai looked back at Burning Echelon and Try Burning. He grabbed his Gunpla, regarding Yang's for a moment, before turning to her. "When we fight, I'll be using my own Gunpla, that I built with my own hands." He stared fondly at Try Burning, before looking at Yang. "I want you to bring your best because my real Gunpla is far stronger than this!"

Yang looked over at Burning Echelon. Ideas and blueprints were already planning themselves out in her head...but she had no clue how to do them. "Ruby! Can you help me tune the spare Burning Echelon I have?"

"You have more than one of your Gunpla?" Fumina asked. Yang nodded.

"I've built so many of the same kits that I've started making duplicates, just in case. Mostly for replacement parts, but there is one I always keep as an experiment to test new equipment on." She looked back at her sister. "Can you do it? Can you make parts like the blue bits on Try Burning?"

"The Plavsky reaction plastic? Yeah, I made a little for my new Gunpla too. It's more expensive to 3D print but I can easily do it. What do you want?"

"I'll tell you when we get back to the hotel." She picked up her battered Gunpla. "But when we enter the tournament, Burning Echelon is going to be a brand new machine! Till then, Blake and I will keep practicing with this one."

"Then once you tell me what you want, I'll get started." Ruby looked at her sister. "I'll make your Gunpla shine, and next time Sekai won't know what hit him!"

Sekai offered his hand to Yang, and she took it, squeezing it in respect. "Don't lose before we meet," he said. "I'll be waiting."

"Don't worry about me," she replied. "I won't lose to anyone. Especially not you."


	15. Character Bio: Part 7

**MR. RAL**

**Height: 5'10"**

**Age: "35"**

**Hair: Brown**

**Eyes: blue**

An exceptionally well known and well respected individual of the Gunpla community, Mister Ral has kept both up to date and engaged in all manners of Gunpla Battle since its initial conception. World famous among the vast majority of veteran pilots and designers, Ral has personally had his hand in coaching several exceptionally prominent members of world tournaments, including Sei Iori, Reiji, and Team Try Fighters.

Because of his uncanny resemblance to Ramba Ral of the original Mobile Suit Gundam and his favoritism towards the Gouf as his main Gunpla, Ral has earned the nickname "The Blue Giant" and many people hes worked with in the past refer to him as "Lieutenant," as he was part of a Zeon-based Gunpla building group in the past. He is recognized as being one of the strongest Gunpla battlers in the world, though he himself holds no official titles and has won no championship. His skills, however, have proven undeniable, as he has even stood toe-to-toe with the Third Meijin Kawaguchi, the three-time World Champion, and fought to a relative standstill.

* * *

**FUMINA HOSHINO**

**Age: 16**

**Height: 5'4"**

**Hometown: Tokyo, Japan**

**Hair: Sandy blonde**

**Eyes: blue**

**School: Seiho Academy**

The leader of Team Try Fighters and a passionate Gunpla enthusiast, Fumina is an energetic and relatively happy teenager with spunk for days and a drive that few can match. Her desire to watch others succeed and grow is what drove her to become the Gunpla Club president at Seiho Academy, though interest in the club waned until Sekai Kamiki and her childhood friend Yuuma Kousaka joined and, with Mr. Ral's coaching, won the Under 19 Team Battle Tournament (known also as the Tri Battle Tournament) two years running.

Fumina has proven to be an adaptable and combat-capable up and comer in the sport. Even her original machine, the GM Powered Cardigan, featured numerous adaptations to allow it to fit any role she desired. Her most recent machine, the Star Winning Gundam, is proof of her flexible capability on the battlefield, and can easily support either Yuuma or Sekai in battle when needed with several unique and powerful abilities. Though she is team captain, she recognizes that her skills are best suited to supporting her team, and she ensures she does exactly that.

Fumina has an obvious attraction to Sekai and is an incredibly jealous individual when rivals such as Shia Kijima or Kauroko Sazaki make moves on him. This jealousy manifests into full-blown explosive arguments with the other two, and she feels she is most competitive when facing them specifically, though in general, she is an individual who pushes to win no matter what.

* * *

**YUUMA KOUSAKA**

**Age: 16**

**Height: 5'7"**

**Hometown: Tokyo, Japan**

**Hair: indigo**

**Eyes: indigo**

**School: Seiho Academy**

The final member of Team Try Fighters and the most serious of the three, Yuuma Kousaka is the younger brother of China Kousaka, Sei Iori's fiancé. His skill in building is closing in on world-class levels, and his Gunpla piloting skills have proven to be exceptional. He had promised Fumina to go to the World Championship together, and though he lost interest after an encounter with an overwhelming opponent, he has since regained his passion for the sport.

Though Yuuma can seem cold and abrasive towards individuals such as his teammate, Sekai Kamiki, who he often openly insults for his brash and impulsive behavior, he is a tactician by nature and understands the role that people play in their respective teams. Preferring long-range sniping as his playstyle, he often gets to see the battlefield from a more scoped out and wider perspective, allowing him to notice patterns the others might miss.

Despite his preference for long-range combat, Yuuma is a competent all-around fighter and his build quality ensures perfect performance from even damaged machines, as he has demonstrated several times and has earned him a rival in Minato Sakai, another expert builder that studies at the Shingyo School of model building.

Though he often butts heads with Sekai, he nonetheless recognizes that his impulsive and unpredictable nature and skills in martial arts have led the Try Fighters to two National Tri Battle Tournament wins, and is loyal to him and Fumina, even if he is extremely critical of his naivety, childlike behavior, and impulsiveness.


	16. Party Animals

**-AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello everyone! Alpha here. **

**When I started this story about 9 months ago and began publishing it 8 months ago, I didn't think it was going to be anything big. Mostly just among my friends, perhaps my Gundam modeling group, but that was really it.**

**Now, seeing as I've passed the 50 likes and favorites mark, I can see you have been loving what's been happening, and from this chapter on, there's a LOT that'll be happening. Chapter 9 here, and 10 (which will release next month) are hands down two of the most important chapters to the story. No action this time, but you'll be introduced briefly to a large number of the characters who will be participating in the story.**

**For context: in the original Gundam Build Fighters anime, there was always a massive, black-tie party thrown for all the participants to meet, eat, and kick back and relax right before the tournament. In the spirit of that, I decided to replicate that same event here in this chapter, which is why so many characters are being name-dropped.**

**This is ALSO why I originally chose to separate character bios from the main chapter. Several people have mentioned, either in private messages or in the reviews, that they don't like the fact the bios are released separately. I did that with the intent of allowing people to skip them if they wished, but also because I wanted the releases to be uniform. This chapter here introduces almost twenty new characters, including original characters, revamped RWBY characters, and canon characters to both Gundam Build Fighters and Gundam Build Fighters Try. With that many people, the bio chapter itself was set to be as long as any main chapter, and it would need to be separated. I ultimately made the choice to do that with all chapters-regardless of the number of bios-to give both characters and their Gunpla a place to shine.**

**Starting with chapter 10, however, because people have been asking me to not do that, as they think I'm releasing a second chapter only to be disappointed. From now on, unless the bios included exceed 3 new characters, all bios will be found at the bottom of the main chapter. I'll use separated chapters only to run polls on "bonus chapters" that fans vote in, of which the first poll should release after chapter 12, unless I change my mind. **

**Anyway, all the babbling aside, thank you for reading and enjoying the story. It means the world to me that you decided to pick it up and are staying with me. I hope you enjoy where I plan on taking it!**

Ruby shifted uncomfortably, partly from the heels she was wearing and also due to the large crowd of fellow fighters she found herself in. It was customary for the Gunpla Battlers to meet each other a few days before the beginning of the championships in a large dinner gala so the competitors could have a 'meet and greet'. Many attendees had already known each other for several years anyway, but this dinner offered more of a chance for friends to catch up, discuss recent events and to reminisce about fun times.

"Wow…" Pyrrha exclaimed as she looked around. Meijin Kawaguchi III was of course in attendance alongside Lady Kawaguchi, Meijin's partner both personally and professionally as a promotional partner for various events. Other world-class fighters were in attendance alongside them, notably Ricardo Fellini, 'The Italian Dandy' and last year's World Champion, who was jovially chatting with several people. Kyrus Alexander, the Australian Champion was exchanging pleasantries while sampling the hors d'oeuvres. The former leader of the Gunpla Academies Celestial Sphere team, Wilfrid Kijima and his younger sister Shia stood apart from the rest, mostly taking in the sights. Blake perked up when she saw Shia and moved to talk to her, Yang closely following. She hadn't seen Shia since she'd gone back home to Japan after her foreign exchange student trip ended.

Yuuma and Fumita were both here as well, though Sekai was noticeably absent. Seven-time Thai Champion Luang Dallara was speaking with Nils Yajima, the chief engineer of both Nielsan Labs and Yajima Trading. It was this team that rediscovered the Plavsky Particle after the events of the Seventh Gunpla Battle Championship, which without the rediscovery would've become the last great Gunpla Battle. However, there were still many names and faces which the group was unfamiliar with.

One party, in particular, stood out from the rest, primarily because of the massive man within the group. Easily seven feet tall and a mountain of muscle, he seemed the most out of place among the people attending the gathering, and it drew many eyes to the others with him. He was accompanied by an elegantly dressed woman with blonde hair and fair skin, a slender man with a mustache, and a young woman wearing a red dress with a sultry and dangerous glint in her eye.

Near them, two girls stood side by side. One had purple eyes violently pink hair and what seemed like rabbit ears, the other had bright blue eyes and a much more normal head of blonde hair. Both were dressed in exquisite formal suits, and to Ruby's mind, the blonde looked far better in her suit than most of the many of the guys that were there. After some more studying, Ruby recognized her from the TV as the new Canadian champion Evelyn Damerot, though she was still unfamiliar with the girl next to her.

"I've never seen so many famous people in one room before," Jaune said, completely awestruck.

Weiss made a disgruntled face. "This reminds me a bit too much of one of my father's overly lavish and extravagant dinner parties."

"I can only imagine."

The group turned to see a tall and exceptionally fashionable young woman approach them. The glasses she wore were so dark that Ruby almost mistook for sunglasses, her hair was cut short but for one long strand which was dyed lighter than the rest, and behind her was a shy young woman with long brown hair, holding a camera. Her bunny ears were huge, and she seemed rather timid.

"I'm Coco Adel, the US Champ. This is my partner, Velvet." The shy girl behind Coco gave a small wave. Coco smiled at the newcomers. "You must be here for the Doubles tourney, right?"

Her subtle New York accent delighted Ruby. She loved the sound. "Yeah! We… I guess mostly just seem to be a little out of our depth here."

"Speak for yourself," Nora exclaimed, eyeing the enormous cake one of the waiters was now wheeling out to the main food table. She grabbed Ren by the hand and pulled him forward, causing him to yelp slightly as he was yanked off his feet. "Let's mingle!"

Coco watched them leave with mild amusement. "A woman who knows what she wants." She glanced back at Ruby. "So you must be the elusive Northwest Regional Champ that couldn't make it to the US Tourney. Pity, I was looking forward to facing you."

"U-uhm…." Ruby blushed, turning almost the same color as her dress. "I, uuuuuuh…"

Velvet giggled and snapped a picture of Ruby's perplexed look, which made her jump. "Oh! Sorry."

"You know, you were quite the talk of the town in Vegas during the US Championship Miss Rose," Coco explained. "Beaten to a pulp within two minutes, and still you managed to pull off a victory against your sister despite the condition your Gunpla was in? Not to mention surprising everyone with that special skygrasper mode from the backpack of Strike Noir… it was a spectacular thing to watch. But I imagine that's the reason you were forced to back out of the US championship, isn't it?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, I had to focus on making something stronger, better. Crim - I mean, my Crimson Strike Noir was good, but I knew that if I couldn't beat Yang without having to resort to my escape method, then I wouldn't have stood a chance here!"

Coco chuckled. "Crim. Cute. Also, staying out of this competition was a smart move if you weren't sure it was going to win. I'm sure you used your time very well, I look forward to seeing what you've come up with."

She looked at Pyrrha, who had been looking around absentmindedly at the comings and goings of notable individuals this whole time. "It's a pleasure to meet the European Champ here as well. Taking out Lucas Nemesis for that title… that was an impressive match."

Pyrrha, aware that she was now being addressed directly, rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Oh! Well, thank you. Really it was just another Gunpla Battle for me, but Lucas was an incredible opponent. I heard he's been sponsored to enter the Singles Tournament."

"Yeah. Imagine the rematch." Coco smirked.

Ruby turned to the others. "Anyway this is my partner Weiss and Pyrrha's partner Jaune. The others who just ran off were Ren and Nora, and my sister and her girlfriend Blake are over there talking with Shia Kijima and her brother."

"I see…" Coco feigned surprise that they knew the Kijimas. "So how many other people can you pick out here?"

The four remaining friends looked at each other uncertainly. "Not many…" Weiss admitted. "I'm fairly new to this sport. I've been building and practicing for a few years, but mostly for fun."

Jaune looked embarrassed. "I don't know anyone here except the Meijin. And that was only because we ran into him a few days ago at a souvenir shop." He pointed at Fellini. "I do recognize him though! Ruby has posters of him plastered all over her room, and-"

He glanced at Ruby, whose face was now turning redder and her silver eyes held a dangerous edge as she glared at Jaune to remain silent. Velvet giggled again. "That sounds like what I have at home for Kyrus Alexander," she said. "He's my country's representative and a celebrity in Australia."

"Tell me about it," Coco rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure Kyrus is the only man Velvet would leave me for. I suppose I should count myself lucky."

She looked around the room at the newcomers, some of which were still arriving and some who had arrived while they had been talking. "Well seeing as you don't know who most anyone is, I'll give you the social tour. It's always good to know who you might be up against, and some of these guys are so new you wouldn't know about them yet anyway."

"That would be lovely!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

Coco looked around, pointing at Evelyn and the girl accompanying her. Ruby now noted upon closer inspection that the girl was nearly the same height as Jaune, who was the tallest of their group. "That's probably the team to beat there. You may know her as Canadian champion Evelyn Damerot, but next to her is Jacquiline B. Ivory, the current British Champ. Evelyn narrowly defeated Penny Polendina in the Canadian Finals, but Jack… she's been the British champion three years running, but for some reason, she's opted out of both the European Championship and World Championship for the past 2 years. The fact she's here now says something, not to mention she remains undefeated in tournament combat. Evelyn has a turbocharged G-Self Assault Pack unit she calls G-Hopper. However, she abandoned the assault pack for a custom backpack and heavily reinforced the beefy calf armor pieces to hold more thrusters. Jack uses a Mobile Trace System and a Gundam Tristan inspired Gunpla she calls Gundam Preliator. She's a mixed martial artist and a damn good one."

She nodded to the pair near Yuuma and Fumina, a boy and girl who seemed well acquainted with the duo. "That's Shimon Izuna, the two-time winner of the Japanese Boxing National Championship. The interesting thing is he's not a builder, nor are his machines particularly well built. All his Gunpla are built straight out of the box, with no customizations or special paint beyond panel lines. His little brother Mamoru builds them all, but he is in and out of the hospital a lot with some kind of illness. Despite his Gunplas basic construction and average quality build, Shimon is a very, very dangerous melee fighter. That's not to say he's not completely harmless at range, but ideally, that's kinda where you wanna keep him anyway if you catch my drift."

"His partner is Kaoruko Sazaki, who in the 19 and under divisions has become very well known for her favoritism of the Gyan, earning her the nickname 'Gyanko'." Coco nodded to a woman nearby eating a slice of cake. "Interestingly enough, her main mobile suit is actually an R-Jarja, redesigned in the Gyan motif and with similar shields attached to secondary arms on her back. She is the leader of Team Song Dynasty Vase of the St. Odessa's All-Girls School, which is itself a prominent team contest entrant every year and a direct rival of Team Try Fighters. She's not one to take lightly. Strange that she chose Shimon as her partner rather than one of her normal teammates though..."

She nodded again at Kyrus, who seemed to be enjoying himself, almost too much. "Velvet's favorite you probably know, Kyrus Alexander, the Black Lion. A prominent user of the Unicorn Gundam Banshee, he's a hard-hitting foe with a love of ripping opponents to shreds and of adorning his Gunpla with either emblems or gimmicks featuring lion heads. He has a fierce but friendly rivalry with Ricardo Fellini and was in the top eight two years ago and the semifinals last year, both times eliminated by Ricardo. In his defense, they were really close matches and truthfully came down to some very lucky strikes from Ricardo. Before his eliminations, Kyrus' Banshee tore the Gundam Fenice Rinascita to pieces, so it's safe to say that if he can stand toe-to-toe with the current world champ, he's a force to be reckoned with."

She glanced at the door, where a teenage boy in a black trench coat and a slightly older brown-haired man with sunglasses entered the room, followed by a blue-haired girl and a young woman with hair as black as night. "Ah, those guys there are pretty interesting, both were in the US Championship. The young man in the trench coat is Hathaway Novah, notoriously known to be a master kitbasher, taking both Gunpla and non Gunpla kits and making them tournament legal. He's also the Southwest Regional Champ in the US."

Ruby gave Coco a confused look. "I thought kitbashing was against the rules if it featured non-Gunpla related kits?"

Coco nodded. "It was, until last year. New rules by the new PPSE Chairman changed things; they now perceive kitbashing to be no different than customization, though at least twenty-five percent of the parts used have to come from a Gunpla kit. The fact of the matter is that with Pacific Rim Uprising kits, Full Metal Panic kits, and plenty of others out there made by Bandai, it didn't make sense to limit the rules to ONLY Gunpla. Most kits are scaled to roughly match Gunpla 1/144 scale kits, and many use similar part connectors. So, the commission opened the rules up a bit." She nodded to Hathaway. "And thanks to this development he has utilized that to his advantage. The kit I fought was a hybrid of the Gypsy Avenger from Pacific Rim and the Gundam Exia, but he changes Gunpla every match. In fact, the only consistency you'll see in any of his Gunpla is that longsword he uses, which has both a beam pistol and a deadly railgun mounted on it.

"His partner is Jim Hawkins, US Southeast Champ. He uses his flying Gunpla, which is a mix of the Gundam Airmaster Burst with either the Zeta Gundam or Zeta Plus, it's kind of hard to tell. He was a fighter pilot for the Air Force before some kind of accident left him mostly blind. I have no idea how he can fly a Gunpla, but he's pretty tricky."

"Wait a second," Weiss said. "He's blind?"

"Partially, yes," Velvet replied. "I actually had to take his picture for a bit of an exposé on him, and we talked for a bit. Nice guy. Big time flirt."

Ruby grinned. "That's awesome! Is he any good?"

Coco shrugged. "I didn't fight him, but he's the Southeast Regional Champ so he's gotta be good to make it to Nationals."

"I've seen her before," Pyrrha nodded at the black-haired girl with them. "She's the Russian Champion, Irina Sobolev. She likes using a custom Gundam Astrea, and she is very serious. I faced her once before, one of the toughest fights I ever had."

Coco nodded. "Sounds about right. The last girl with the blue hair is Mina Seung, and though she's never won an official tournament, she has traveled all over to hone her Gunpla Battle skills. She's Jim's girlfriend, and no matter what Gunpla she's used she's always been very quick and extremely agile. Might be a tricky team."

Two gentlemen wearing very formal looking American military uniforms entered the room, followed by a serious-looking woman in similar dress. Compared to everyone else in the room, they really stood out.

"Oh, the guests of honor have arrived," Coco announced. The group looked at the three newcomers. "Captain James Ironwood of the Marine Corps, Commander Gabriel Fynn of the US Navy, and-"

"Winter?" Weiss's eyes widened in surprise. Why was her sister here?

Coco glanced at Weiss, eyebrow raised. "Yes, Lieutenant Winter Schnee. She's acting as Captain Ironwood's Operator." Coco looked Weiss up and down, recognizing the striking resemblance. "You look like you two are related."

"She's my sister, yes," Weiss replied. "I haven't seen her in almost a year."

"Good chance to catch up then. They're being sponsored by the US Military as a promotional bit, but rumor has it that Ironwood is secretly a big fan of giant mecha anime. So I'm kinda curious. Don't know much about Fynn though…"

She nodded to the large group Ruby and her friends had noticed earlier. "Then there's that bit… you guys know about what happened with Team Nemesis, right?"

Ruby nodded, a concerned look on her face. "Yeah, after the Seventh Gunpla Battle Team Nemesis was banned from all future competitions due to their owner, Josef Kankaansyrjä. She was caught using a banned system called the Embody System to alter the aggressiveness of Nemesis fighter Aila Jyrkiäinen. It was deemed unethical and illegal, and Josef was arrested alongside most of Team Nemesis, though some of the company that he ran kept going. It was a big scandal, and also the reason my mom wanted to become a Gunpla Battle Referee."

Weiss blinked, surprised at how serious Ruby had suddenly become. "Wow… I didn't think you were into that kind of thing."

"I'm not really, but the Seventh Gunpla Championship was marked by three massive events: the disappearance of PPSE Chairman Hitumo Mashita, the Mock Battle of A Boua Qu, where the Plavsky Particles ran out of control and began forming all over the old stadium - eventually destroying the roof with a titanic 1/144 scale A Boua Qu space fortress hologram and causing the disappearance of the original Plavsky Particle crystal - and the scandal surrounding Team Nemesis' abuse of the Embody System on both Aila Jyrkiäinen and the Third Meijin in the finals."

They all stared at Ruby, who looked around at them, confused at the shock on their faces. "What?"

Coco chuckled. "Wow, I'm impressed." She glanced back at Team Nemesis, pulling her sunglasses down and giving them a tight appraisal. "Recently their assets were purchased by that woman, Salem Autry. Pretty ruthless. I've heard she's attempting to rebrand the whole team and their assets to avoid the negative publicity. Want to go scout them out?"

"Is that really a good idea?" Velvet raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come on, it'll be fine. Besides," she looked at Ozpin, who had managed to wiggle through the crowd and was now approaching the blonde woman among the group. "If that's their principal, then what can go wrong?"

Weiss put her hand on Ruby's shoulder. "You go on, I want to talk to my sister."

Ruby nodded, giving her a smile. "Say hello for me!" She then turned to Coco. "Let's investigate!"

Velvet sighed as the lot of them walked towards the group, before seeing that their principal, Ozpin, had also begun to approach the former Team Nemesis. He noticed them out of the corner of his eye and turned before he had addressed the woman, nodding and smiling at them.

"Miss Nikos, Miss Rose, Mister Arc, it's a pleasure to see you all here," Ozpin said cheerfully. "I see you're mingling well and making friends. Excellent!"

"What are you doing here Mister Ozpin?" Jaune asked.

"As your teams' sponsor, it would be bad form for me to miss this banquet." He turned to the two older girls with them. "Harold Ozpin, principal of Franklin High School. These fine young individuals are my students, and I am also their sponsor for the tournament."

"Coco Adel and this is Velvet, my plus one. A pleasure."

"Ah, the United States Champion. An honor. How about I-"

"Ozpin."

Ozpin turned to see who had called his name to see no one other than Salem approaching them. She wore a tight yet elegant black dress made out of fine silks and walked with a slow, seductive sway in her hips. She gave Ozpin a playful smile. "I was surprised to see your name on the guest list. Prefer battling with toys now? Or are you here for more… personal reasons."

The small entourage that accompanied Salem flanked her as she spoke. The young woman with black hair and golden eyes had a smug, almost hungry look about her, a sultry posture and beautiful pouty lips, but with a gaze so sharp that Ruby was sure it'd carve through a fully assembled Gunpla if she wanted. The monster of a man next to her was a stark contrast - quiet, seemingly gentle despite his physique, and subdued. The third man was clearly in his mid-forties, with an exceptionally elegant mustache and a tanned complexion. Ruby felt rather unnerved by his presence alone, as though he was plotting something even as he stood there.

Ozpin looked between all of them with a complex expression on his face, before looking back at Salem. "I was surprised to see you here as well. I figured you were still attempting to find a new devious scheme to make a name for yourself."

Salem gave a small but cold chuckle that sent chills down Jaune's spine. "I don't need to anymore, not after I've purchased the resources used by the defunct Team Nemesis. You are looking at most of the members of Team Godhunter."

Ozpin narrowed his eyes for a while before he introduced the youths behind him. "Besides Coco Adel and her friend, these three are students at my school, Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, and Pyrrha Nikos. They are also members of teams I am sponsoring, but their teammates are presently mingling with the others."

The young woman from Salem's team walked over to Pyrrha, her golden eyes glowing with an inner fire. Her long red dress flowed as she walked, the golden accents shimmering in the light. "I've looked forward to fighting you for a long time," she said to Pyrrha, extending her hand. "Cinder Fall. A pleasure to meet you."

"Oh! Uh…" Pyrrha stammered and before taking her hand and shaking it. "The… pleasure is all mine."

Cinder smiled at her before releasing her hand. "I'll be fighting in the singles tournament, with Arthur Watts acting as my operator."

The mustached gentleman bowed respectfully. Salem turned to the much larger man behind her. "Arthur is our team's main manufacturer, and Hazel here is one member of the Godslayer's doubles team duo."

Both Arthur and Hazel nodded politely as they were introduced, but neither said a word.

Salem turned back to Ozpin. "Well then, this has been quite an interesting reunion. Good luck in the tournament, both to you and your students. You'll need it." She smirked and turned to her team. "Come, let's go and meet the rest of the competition."

Cinder gave Jaune and Ruby a flirty wink before walking past the group. Hazel and Watts followed, respectfully excusing themselves with nods as they walked away.

"Hmmmm….Something doesn't sit well with me about them," Coco said to Ruby in a hushed tone, narrowing her eyes.

"They seemed pretty nice, though a little... intimidating."

Ozpin leaned in. "It's nothing more than psychological warfare," he said. "Try not to let it unnerve you; it's what they want after all."

Jaune laughed nervously. "Unnerved? Who's unnerved?"

Ozpin smiled at him. "That's the spirit. Now if you'll excuse me, there are a couple of people I need to find. Enjoy your time at the party."

"Bye Mister Ozpin!" Ruby called out, waving as he walked away. "Alright! I'm going to go find Yang and Blake. I'll talk to you guys later! And thanks again for the info, Coco!"

"My pleasure," Coco said warmly. "Try not to get knocked out before our big match in the Championships."

Ruby nodded and hurried off, looking for Yang and Blake. She found them on the far end of the dinner talking with Shia Kajima, who Blake's family had housed during her studies abroad in America. Shia noticed Ruby and waved, smiling at her as she approached. A tall, young man with a long blonde ponytail almost as long as Yang's hair sat next to Shia, a glass of juice in his hand. He seemed very outgoing and confident, and from Coco's description, he must've been Shia's brother, Wilfrid.

"Ah, there you are Ruby," Blake said as she popped up beside her "We were just talking about you and how you've been helping me modify the 00 Quanta Shia."

"Oh yeah, we're almost done!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly. "Blake just finished the new paint job, and I've almost finished with its new weapons."

Shia gave Ruby a curious look. "New weapons?"

"Blake is still sorta new to Gunpla Battle, and I wanted to give her the best edge I could. So I'm adding an additional SD Exia shield to the side of her GN Sword III, to give it greater defense and protection for the weapon on the right side while the 00 Quanta shield helps with defense on the left."

Shia nodded, thinking. "So what do you plan on calling your new Gundam?"

"The 00 Quanta Bella," Blake replied. "Not just because my last name is Belladonna, but also because it means 'beautiful' in Italian, which perfectly fits the machine you gave me." She looked away, blushing. "I still can't believe you just gave it to me though…"

Shia smiled cutely and cocked her head to the side. "You don't need to worry; I rebuilt it. I decided to combine it with the 00 Quanta's Full Saber."

"I'm surprised Shia," Wilfrid commented. "You're not normally this talkative with rivals unless they happen to be Sekai Kamiki of course."

"That's because Sekai's not my rival, obviously," Shia said happily. "This time he's my partner. Plus you guys are all my friends."

"Wait, Sekai's your partner?" Yang asked, startled for a moment before getting excited. "Oh hell yeah!"

Ruby giggled embarrassedly at her sister's reaction. Shia gave Yang a funny look. "You know Sekai?"

"They were training together at Yang's mother's dojo," Blake explained. "They got into a sparring match, which Sekai won. But the match was so intense that it sparked a little something in Yang."

Wilfrid nodded, closing his eyes. "Yes, he does tend to have that effect on people. He did that to me, becoming the one person besides the Meijin that I think I could fight earnestly against." He looked up at Ricardo, Kyrus, and the large crowd of other talented world-class fighters in the room. "Although this year I think Sekai might just be the tip of the iceberg."

Ruby looked at him, puzzled. "Why do you say that?"

He looked at Ruby with an excited glimmer in his eye. "Because Sei Iori is rejoining the competitive circuit. I had heard he was coming out of temporary retirement early for this tournament, but it has only just now occurred to me that I could be fighting him. The Meijin's rival and two-time World Championship winner. It seems that the tournament will be even more competitive than I originally expected."

Shia playfully rolled her eyes at her brother. She knew Wilfrid's excitement wouldn't be contained. "Don't forget that Sekai's also entering the Grand Melee for the World Tournament."

Wilfrid chuckled to himself. "How could I? But my personal rival deserves special attention, and I've upgraded Transient Gundam Glacier in preparation."

Yang clasped her hands excitedly. "Oh this is gonna be epic, I can't wait! Hey Shia, If you and Sekai meet Blake and me in the tournament, don't expect us to go easy on you!"

Shia smiled pleasantly. "I would expect nothing less." She glanced at Blake. "Show me how beautiful your 00 Quanta Bella is when we fight, okay?"

Blake nodded. "I can't wait to show you." She beamed at the idea of showing off her new Gundam, almost as wide as the one she had given Yang when she'd asked her out. Plus it warmed her heart to see Blake be more open and talkative than she normally was. Not to mention she knew her partner was not exactly comfortable in this kind of environment due to her experience, or rather her lack thereof.

"Ruby!"

The small group turned to see Weiss approaching them, her sister Winter by her side. Winter walked bluntly yet with poise, practically glaring around the room with an intimidating look that rivaled even Cinder's cruel gaze. Aside from the clear resemblance, the two could not be any more different, the irony of which amused both Yang and Ruby.

Weiss stood proudly and presented her older sister in all of her uniformed glory. "I would like to formally introduce you to Lieutenant Winter Schnee of the United States Marine Corps. Winter, this is Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Shia Kajima, and my partner for the Doubles Tournament, Ruby Rose."

Shia bowed respectfully. "It's a privilege to meet you. This is my older brother, Wilfrid."

Wilfrid stood and offered his hand to Winter, who shook it firmly. "Weiss has told me all about you Wilfrid. It's an honor."

"The honor is mine, Lieutenant," Wilfrid responded. Winter gave him a curious look before her expression softened slightly. The change did not go unnoticed, and Yang elbowed Blake with a mischievous grin.

Winter then turned to Ruby. "So, you are the esteemed partner my sister has chosen to fight alongside." She looked Ruby up and down. "That you are here at all speaks highly of your ability in a Gunpla Battle. Do not disappoint her, or me for that matter. I hope to see great things from you."

Weiss glanced at Ruby, who bit her lip nervously. "Oh! Don't worry, sir. I - Uhh.. I mean ma'am. I mean... " Ruby continued to stumble over her words.

"Ruby, you dolt, you're embarrassing me!" Hissed Wiess, interrupting Ruby's stammering.

"I'm sorry! I don't know what I should call her!"

Winter cracked a small smile at their childlike antics. "Winter is perfectly fine. While Captain Ironwood and Commander Fynn might stand on formality, I prefer not to when amongst friends and family."

Ruby sighed in relief. "Oh good."

"Hey! Shia!"

An angry bellow startled the group. Fumina was marching towards them, with Yuuma on her heels, attempting unsuccessfully to calm her down. "What's this I hear about Sekai being your partner?! Is this why he bailed on practice the other day?"

Blake glanced at Shia, who turned and closed her eyes as if to ignore Fumina. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar!" Fumina gritted her teeth, her hands balling into fists. "You… you manipulated him! Kidnapped him! Brainwashed him!"

Shia gave her a sideways glance. "And what makes you say that?" She turned back to Fumina and continued in a passive-aggressive tone. "It's not my fault he's more interested in me than you."

Yuuma looked terrified, as Fumina visibly began to shake. "Shia… I'm going to destroy you if you don't take that back…"

"Take what back?" She smirked and winked at Fumina.

Fumina began to growl, looking as if she was about to murder Shia. Yang blinked, confused. "Did we get stuck in the middle of a war, here?" She whispered.

Winter looked at Wilfrid. "Are they always like this?"

Wilfrid nodded, amused. "My little sister looks innocent, but that's one of the many mistakes people make."

Shia scowled at her older brother. "Rude."

"Don't think you're safe at all here," Fumina warned. "I'm not going to lose to you. Or Gyanko. Or anyone."

"Maybe not in Gunpla Battle. But it'll be a different story when it comes to Sekai." Her innocent smile returned, but there was a strikingly evil glint in her eye as she held Fumina's gaze.

"Fumi-chan, perhaps we should simmer down a bit," Yuuma urged. "We'll make a bigger scene."

Fumina reluctantly stood down, but never took her eyes off Shia. "You're right. We have preparations to make." After what seemed like a long while, she finally walked away in a huff, Shia playfully waving her goodbye. Yuuma bowed hastily in apology before hurrying after her into the crowd.

"Is Sekai your boyfriend? Or Fumina's?" Blake asked, confused.

Shia looked at her and smiled. "Hmmm... I wonder."

"So, uhh… that was a thing." Yang watched Fumina walk away, then grinned. "Sounds like there's going to be more than one super motivated team here."

"You've made quite interesting friends, Weiss," Winter commented, looking over the group with a slightly amused look.

Ruby laughed and looked at Weiss. "And you thought _I _was going to embarrass you."

"You _do _embarrass me, you idiot!"

The chiming of a fork on a wine glass caused everyone to simmer down. All eyes turned to the window, where a tall man with dark skin and thick curled black hair stood with the Meijin.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending this year's gala," the man began. "For those of you who are new to the tournaments, my name is Nils Yakima, chief engineer of Nielsen Labs. Since the Plavsky Particle Incident eight years ago, my wife and I have been working tirelessly with my team to create an even more authentic and incredible experience for Gunpla Battlers worldwide."

"This year, I am pleased to announce that my team has revolutionized the sport even further, making great strides with an enhanced version of the Plavsky Particle emission system that should provide more reactive response times and overall faster pace Gunpla battles."

"The Doubles Tournament will be when we get a chance to test this system publicly, with the hope of providing new synthetic Plavsky Particle crystals to every business with a Battle Station within the year."

Ruby listened with bated breath but grew concerned when he saw the look on Ozpin's face, who glanced at Salem. The blonde woman wore a pleased expression; perhaps this was good news for her new business?

"That being said," the Meijin added, "the spirit of Gunpla Battle will only improve as we move forward into a brighter future! The first-ever Doubles Tournament starts in just a few days, and I expect to see you put your hearts and souls into your upcoming competitions! Let this eve of battle be your time to enjoy yourselves. I hope to see you fight like your very lives are on the line, and show our fans around the world your passion for Gunpla!"

A cheer rose from the crowd as everyone lifted their glasses in salute. Every person in the room felt the atmosphere shift positively.

The last day of preparation had begun. The final bits of training and fine-tuning would be crucial for everyone. Soon, all of these friends would become intense rivals, and the battles that ensued would be explosive.

Ruby glanced at Weiss, who had a determined expression, but she met Ruby's eyes and smiled and nodded. They were ready. And they couldn't wait to get started.


	17. Character Bio: Part 8

**VELVET SCARLETINA**

**Age: 18**

**Hometown: Melbourne, Australia**

**Height: 5'4"**

**Hair: Brown**

**Eyes: Brown**

Coco Adel's girlfriend and hopeful freelance photographer, Velvet is a kind, gentle, lovely girl with a warm smile, shy nature, and passion for taking pictures. Photography isn't just her passion, it's her job, and she loves being around the celebrities, taking pictures from a small distance away while her more gregarious girlfriend mingles.

Though not competing in the tournaments, Velvet does play Gunpla Battle casually and often acts as a recon scout for Coco. Between her data gathering and Coco's installed Zero System, little escapes the watchful eye of Velvet and Coco on the battlefield, and she's taken advantage of her photography skills to adapt her Gunpla accordingly.

* * *

**NILS YAJIMA**

**Age: 21**

**Hometown: San Francisco, California**

**Height: 6'0"**

**Hair: Black**

**Eyes: brown**

**Title: lead scientist at Nielsen Labs and Yajima Trading**

Known as the Early Genius and the Samurai Boy in his youth, Nils Yajima, formerly Nils Nielsen prior to marrying Caroline Yajima, was always destined for scientific greatness. At age thirteen, he had already graduated with three and was a master of martial arts, thanks to training with his mother. His IQ has yet to be calculated, but many consider him to be smarter than any of the 20th and 21st-century scientists of fame, like Stephan Hawking and Albert Einstein.

In the Seventh World Gunpla Tournament, he represented America as its national champion. Using his masterful knowledge of how Plavsky Particles react to Gunpla, he managed to overwhelm opponents with the Sengoku Astray, his custom Astray Red Frame, with a mixture of dual swordplay inspired by fabled samurai Miyamoto Musashi and Chinese martial arts centering around aura control (or in this case, Plavsky Particle manipulation), until he encountered Sei Iori and Reiji in the Star Build Strike, who managed to defeat him.

He retired from Gunpla Battle afterward, focusing on studying the nature of Plavsky Particles after the events of the Mock Battle of A Boua Qu, where he witnessed firsthand the overwhelming capabilities of the Plavsky Particle Crystal. After the battle, with the disappearance of the crystal, he and Caroline Yajima dedicated nearly a year pouring over their findings and eventually, with her father's investments, managed to completely synthesize a new version of the crystal, with greater output and performance than the original.

Since that time, Nils has married Caroline and taken her name as a way to show appreciation for her and her father's contribution. He has become the primary mind in the field of learning how to best use and modify the Plavsky Particles for things outside of Gunpla Battle. Because of his innate knowledge of how the new system works, he no longer plays Gunpla Battle, as he feels he has far too much of an advantage to make it fair for anyone.

* * *

**RICARDO FELLINI**

**Age: 31**

**Hometown: Florence, Italy**

**Height: 6'4"**

**Hair: Black**

**Eyes: Aqua**

The Italian Dandy, Ricardo Fellini, is one of the strongest and most prominent members of the singles competition. A proud, boastful, powerful opponent, he has proven himself time and again as the current reigning Italian Gunpla Champion, which he held during the 7th Gunpla World Tournament eight years prior, and earned the last three years in a row. In his twenties, he was seen as a bit of a ladies' man, but since the 7th World Tourney he has settled down, marrying the former Japanese idol-turned-Hollywood actress Kirara, who now goes by Mihoshi. He has been in five of the last seven Gunpla Battles and won the 12th Gunpla Battle World Championship.

* * *

**SHIA KIJIMA**

**Age: 16**

**Height: 5'2"**

**Hometown: Tokyo, Japan**

**School: Gunpla Academy**

**Hair: White**

**Eyes: Blue**

**Team: Burning Phoenix**

A member of the three-person team Celestial Sphere, Shia Kijima is one of the most skilled and accomplished builders in the world. In the year prior, Shia participated in the finals of the Tri Battle Tournament against the Try Fighters, using her custom machine, the G-Portent, alongside her brother Wilfrid Kijima and his Transient Gundam and their teammate Saga Audo and Gundam The End.

After the battle, she traveled with Try Fighters Ace Sekai Kamiki around Japan and elsewhere to hone his building skills, with both of them eventually returning with new Gunpla (much to the jealousy of Fumina Hoshino, Sekai's teammate, and Kauroko Sazaki of the team Song Dynasty Vase, both of which, alongside Shia, have a romantic interest in the oblivious Sekai).

Shia acts cute and innocent but has a quick mind and a diabolical level of mischievousness hidden under her white hair and pale blue eyes. She possesses a level of model building skill that could outshine the Meijin Kawaguchi and Sei Iori, two of the most prestigious Gunpla builders in the world. As such, even a weak, stock machine crafted by her should be considered hyper lethal. Her piloting skills are also close to world level, so she is not to be underestimated in a fight.

* * *

**WILFRID KIJIMA**

**Age: 20**

**Hometown: Tokyo, Japan**

**Height: 6'0"**

**Hair: Pale Blonde**

**Eyes: Sky Blue**

The former leader of the Gunpla Academy's famous Celestial Sphere team, Wilfrid is an intelligent and cunning individual with high aspirations and wanting nothing more than a good fight. He is easily disappointed in people who cannot get his blood pumping, which is why he quickly became enamored and excited when Sekai Kamiki appeared and became his rival.

Wilfrid demands nothing but the best from his foes. He is an amazing and powerful fighter, level headed and calm at nearly every moment of a battle. His goal is to be selected as the Fourth Meijin Kawaguchi when the Third Meijin finally retires. He has followed a similar path to Tatsuya Yuuki, studying in England for several years before transferring to the Gunpla Academy in Japan and rising to the top of the team circuit.

This time around, he has chosen to forgo teaming with his sister Shia in favor of making a name for himself on his own. Joining the World Tournament will be his first step to greatness; winning it and beating the Meijin will be his ultimate triumph.

* * *

**KOURUKO SAZAKI**

**Age: 16**

**Hometown: Tokyo, Japan**

**Height: 5'6"**

**Hair: brown**

**Eyes: brown**

**Alias: Gyanko**

**School: St Odessa's All Girl's School**

**Team: Shielded Strikers**

The younger sister of well-known Gunpla enthusiast and Gyan obsessive pilot Susumu Sazaki, Kouruko, or as she has come to be known as, "Gyanko," is the leader of Song Dynasty Vase, the team that hails from St. Odessa's All-Girls Academy. Headstrong, stubborn, and defiant, but with a soft heart and warm personality to those she considers friends, Gyanko has forged bonds with all of Team Try Fighters and is especially enamored by Sekai Kamiki-much to the annoyance of both Sekai's teammate, Fumina, and rival, Shia.

Her accolades in Gunpla Battle make her a powerful foe in combat. She has a rather sturdy and heavily resilient shield created by her brother, which he has equipped to her redesigned R-Jarja, called the R-Gyagya, which has been customized to have both the look and fighting style of the Gyan, though she has a newer design called the Gyancelot that she has been using with increased frequency. She has proven to be more than adequate in a variety of singles and team competitions since meeting Sekai and vowing to improve her skills to win his affection (something that Sekai has no idea about).

* * *

**SHIMON IZUNA**

**Age: 16**

**Hometown: Tokyo, Japan**

**Height: 5'9"**

**Hair: brown**

**Eyes: green**

**Team: Shielded Strikers**

Shimon is a powerful junior boxer and former national boxing champion for the 19 and under division. A little dense but with a kind heart, he has become fast friends with Sekai Kamiki after meeting him one time in combat and facing him blow-for-blow on near equal terms. He also became rather close with Gyanko, and as such decided to team with her for the Doubles tournament. Many believe the two are dating, though both adamantly deny it.

Rather than build his own Gunpla, Shimon uses only straight built units provided to him by his little brother, Mamoru, who has been practicing their craft. His brother has been in and out of the hospital for a few years, suffering from illness, and Shimon uses his brother's Gunpla to honor him as a way to fight alongside him when he cannot. Mamoru and Gyanko's little brother Tateo have become friends and rivals in building competitions since meeting at the Meijin Cup a few years prior, which caused Gyanko and Shimon to become best friends and are often seen together.

* * *

**HATHAWAY NOVAH**

**Age: 17**

**Hometown: Sacramento, California**

**Height: 5'9"**

**Title: US Southwest Regional Champion**

**Hair: Black**

**Eyes: deep blue**

**Team: MixMasters**

Known as the "Master Kitbasher" by many due to his seemingly impossible skill at taking otherwise unmodified parts and mixing them together to form a new machine, Hathaway is as capable of throwing people for a loop with his unique creations as he is piloting them. Never to be satisfied with just a single model, Hathaway has hundreds of kitbashes that he uses, never using the same model twice, which always keeps people on their toes. The only sole piece of equipment shared between his machines is his unique longsword Black Thorn, which he has equipped to every kit. It houses a beam pistol and powerful railgun for additional firepower, ensuring that Hathaway is never without options.

A serious and focused individual, it takes a real challenge to awaken Hathaway from a state some might see as perpetual boredom. He hopes to find that kind of challenge this year in both the singles and doubles World Tournaments, eagerly looking forward to seeing what the best of the best has to offer.

* * *

**JIM HAWKINS**

**Age: 24**

**Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada**

**Height: 6'2"**

**Title: US Southeast Regional Champion**

**Hair: Blonde**

**Eyes: Blue**

**Team: MixMasters**

An ex-US fighter pilot, prior to a debilitating and partially blinding injury on base, Jim is a ridiculous and sarcastic individual, preferring the thrill of a fight over moping over his unfortunate circumstances. His eyesight is gradually improving with time and therapy, but for now, he is legally blind, relying on a special AI he helped develop named Alpha to act as his depth perception and more detailed eyes and targeting sensor in Gunpla Battle. With his win in Orlando, Florida to become the US Southeast Champion, Jim established himself as a contender, disability, or no. He had previously made a name for himself when challenging Ricardo Fellini to a race, which he lost by only a fraction of a second, impressing Fellini in his control and precision even with his limited eyesight.

Serving as Hathaway's partner and preferring the freedom of open-air or space over the confines of the ground, he has chosen a highly maneuverable transforming Gunpla that is primarily based on the Zeta Plus and the Gundam Airmaster Burst as his main unit for the Doubles Tournament. The machine was built by Hathaway two years prior and has seen several aesthetic changes, but overall remains the perfect hybrid of two of the more dominant aerial designs in Gundam's franchise history, and his ever-present companion in a fight.

* * *

**MINA SEUNG**

**Age: 21**

**Hometown: Seoul, South Korea**

**Height: 5'6"**

**Title: Korean Dual National Champion**

**Hair: Black (dyed sky blue)**

**Eyes: brown**

**Team: Honorbound**

A kind-hearted and carefree individual, Mina is not one to be tied to locations for any length of time. She has traveled the world in search of adventure and excitement, and has crossed paths with several of the people at this tournament at least once.

She met Jim over a year and a half ago, and they hit it off extremely quickly. They have been together ever since, often traveling country to country to improve their skills as Gunpla fighters. Mina went home and competed in both the South Korean Nationals and the South Vs North Grand Tournament, winning both and being crowned Dual National Champion in the process. She hopes to add the Doubles World Championship to her list of accolades next, and if she's lucky, the World Singles Championship, as well.

* * *

**IRINA SOBOLEV**

**Age: 20**

**Hometown: St. Petersburg, Russia**

**Height: 5'4"**

**Hair: brown**

**Eyes: green**

**Team: Honorbound**

A quiet, composed, intense, and wickedly aggressive fighter, Irina has gone toe to toe with Pyrrha in what Pyrrha admits was one of the toughest fights she's ever had. A dedicated and ambitious competitor, Irina chose to partner with Mina in a surprise twist, after seeing that their fighting styles compliment each other.

According to Pyrrha, she uses a custom Gundam Astrea as her main Gunpla, but beyond this, she didn't reveal anything about her machine. If it gave her a tough time, however, it is not a force to be taken lightly.

* * *

**JACK B. IVORY**

**Age: 19**

**Hometown: Blackpool, England**

**Height: 5'10**

**Hair: Pale Blonde**

**Eyes: Sky Blue**

**Title: English National Champion**

**Team: JackRabbit**

The tomboyish and calculating Jacqueline Ivory is a surprise entrant in both the Doubles and Singles tournament this year. She has won the English Nationals three times over in recent years but has opted to stay out of the world stage for now.

Generally friendly, she and Hathaway Novah are close friends, sparring partners, and rivals. She loves a good fight and specializes in Muay Thai kickboxing to overwhelm her foes. One of the few Mobile Trace System machines used in the tournament, Jack has found equal success in the normal control scheme as well and is just at home firing a rifle as she is throwing her fists around.

* * *

**EVELYN DAMEROT**

**Age: 19**

**Hometown: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada**

**Height: 5'2"**

**Hair: Brown (wears a pale pink wig with matching ears)**

**Eyes: Brown (Purple with contacts)**

**Title: Canadian National Champion**

**Team: JackRabbit**

Jack's best friend and partner for the tournament, Evelyn has earned the reputation of "The Mad Hatter" due to her outlandish style of homemade clothing in an attempt to merge the Rabbit and Hatter from Alice in Wonderland together. She has an entire persona she wears in public, right down to contacts and a wig with rabbit ears, and is as wild and unpredictable as Jack is calculated and focused.

She bested Penny Polendina for the Canadian National Championship, and though she often says she always knew she'd win, Penny's unique fighting style was perhaps the closest she's ever come to being completely dominated. A powerful and devastating force to be reckoned with, Evelyn's sporadic movements and unrelenting assault is the reason she has made it this far, and is the reason her team is a favorite to take the Doubles Tournament.

* * *

**SALEM AUTRY**

**Age: 42**

**Hometown: unknown, presumed somewhere in France**

**Heigh: 5'8"**

**Position: New Owner of Team Nemesis (Rebranded Team Godslayer)**

Serious with business and a patient and calculating woman, Salem seemingly came out of nowhere with enough wealth to purchase the banned and defunct assets of Team Nemesis, which had been essentially abandoned after the debacle of the Seventh Gunpla World Tournament. Rebranding the team into Team Godslayer, she has since managed to successfully petition for the team, now under new leadership, to be allowed to once again compete in official Gunpla Battle circuits. However, her true motives remain to be seen, as a simple interest in Gunpla Battle doesn't seem like something a woman like her would have a spark in.

* * *

**CINDER FALL**

**Age: 20**

**Hometown: Detroit, Michigan**

**Height: 5'9" (in heels)**

**Hair: Black**

**Eyes: yellow**

**Team: Godslayer**

Born to an impoverished mother and an absentee father, Cinder has grown up in the dregs. Annoyed by her lot in life, she felt powerless to have any control over her destiny, often feeling like she was floating in a vast abyss of disparity and self-loathing, she only used Gunpla Battle as an outlet. She became extremely good at it, decimating any challenger in Detroit and eventually won the Statewide Championship two years ago with ruthless efficiency, but even this hadn't been enough. That is, until her skills as a Gunpla fighter were recognized by Salem.

Her cunning, manipulative nature did almost nothing for her in Detroit, where she worked at a convenience store for the minimum wage to help pay the bills. Salem's opportunity for a better life and recognition was too good to be true, but it was indeed real. With her resources, Cinder traveled the world, and in a few year's time managed to impress her enough to be asked to join Team Godslayer as their representative in the World Tournament.

Cinder's ambitions are simple, but that lets her focus more heavily on them: win the tournament for Salem, and prove that she deserves the power she seeks. And destroying the best in the world is the perfect stepping stone to achieve that goal.

* * *

**HAZEL RAINART**

**Age: 44**

**Hometown: Berlin, Germany**

**Height: 7'2"**

**Hair: Black**

**Eyes: Hazel**

**Team: Godslayer**

**Title: German National Champion**

Quiet, muscular, and fairly reserved, Hazel is not what one might call "a showman." Despite his skill in Gunpla Battle, and his reign as the two-time German champion, Hazel often avoids the spotlight. Feeling somewhat uncomfortable in the presence of fame, he nonetheless holds a deep appreciation and regard for the sport, something that has propelled him to the top of his nation and into his first World Tournament, albeit only in the Doubles ranks.

Though he doesn't need the support of Team Godslayer, Hazel decided to use their resources to gain access to better equipment. He fully intends on creating a new Gunpla by the time the tournament ends. For now, though, it's more important for everyone in the tournament to keep an eye on him now, rather than what he is planning to do later on.

* * *

**ARTHUR WATTS**

**Age: 47**

**Hometown: London, England**

**Height: 6'3"**

**Hair: Black**

**Eyes: Green**

**Team: Godslayer**

An exceptionally intelligent man with two in electrical engineering and computer programming, Arthur Watts is a certifiable genius and acts as the primary Operator to Cinder Fall. Arrogant to a fault, he knows precisely how good he is, and knows that selectively few people could challenge his expertise.

Team Godslayer relies on Watts both to handle the modifications to Gunpla and the programming aspects of the computer system in the GP Bases to register what weapons they use. To this end, he has bent the program to his will, allowing his allies' machines to perform feats most wouldn't even dream of. His skill as a Gunpla builder only makes these modifications that much easier, and his models are all top of the line in both building techniques and modifications.

* * *

**JAMES IRONWOOD**

**Age: 45**

**Hometown: Charleston, North Carolina**

**Height: 6'6"**

**Hair: Black (grey sideburns)**

**Eyes: blue**

**Team: Warmasters**

**Rank: Captain, US Marine Corps**

Sponsored by the US military to join the Gunpla Championships in order to showcase the effective strategies taught to their soldiers, Ironwood is the perfect example of the ideal veteran.

Though he doesn't have a particular love for the sport, he sees great potential in the Gunpla Battle system for training drone pilots and soldiers. Despite his lack of experience, his tactical mind has led him to become a massive threat, and his inclusion in both the battle royale for the Top 16 of the World Championship and the Doubles Tournament has stirred a lot of comments in the community.

* * *

**GABRIEL FYNN**

**Age: 41**

**Hometown: Rotorua, New Zealand**

**Height: 5'7"**

**Hair: Black**

**Eyes: Brown**

**Team: Warmasters**

**Rank: Commander, US Navy SEALS**

A good friend of James Ironwood and a passionate Gundam fan, Gabriel Fynn never thought he'd be in the position he finds himself in now, on the center stage of the World Tournament. Despite his age and his calm demeanor, he secretly feels the thrill of being among the greats of the sport.

Fynn's passion for tactical battles matches Ironwood's in every way, and the two have developed a tight-knit and easily flexible combat style that perfectly compliments each other. With his knowledge of many of the Gundam series and the basic capabilities of the stock machines in them, he holds a distinct advantage over most of the other contestants.

* * *

**WINTER SCHNEE**

**Age: 23**

**Hometown: Hollywood, California**

**Height: 5'6"**

**Hair: White**

**Eyes: Sky blue**

**Team: Warmasters**

**Rank: Lieutenant, US Marine Corps**

The older sister of Weiss and a serious, focused woman, Winter is often regarded as the "Ice Queen" for her cool and level-headed attitude and a work mentality some might see as calloused.

Despite initial first impressions, Winter has a gentle side, though few besides her sister and others in the family ever see it. She acts as the Operator for Team Warmasters, repairing their Gunpla and helping Ironwood out when he fights solo. Despite what many might think, Winter is far more competent a builder than many might expect.


	18. Revelation

**AN: Heya, Alpha here! So, I feel compelled to tell you a bit about this chapter, and (for those who have seen Gundam Build Fighters and everything that's spawned from it, including GM Counterattack, Try, and Island Wars, and Battlogue) I must let you all know that what you are about to read is going to require a bit of an open mind. **

**This chapter required me to make some pretty impressive and downright scary connections to fill in gaps in the lore of Build Fighters. So little is known about the broader world outside of Gunpla Battle that I had to basically create my own interpretation of the lore in order to make things make sense, both to the anime and manga AND to this fan fiction. As such, I ask that you keep in mind that much of what you are about to read is MY way of filling in the gaps, because there are monumental gaps to fill in.**

**More importantly, though, I ask that you stick around until the end, because this chapter is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTER IN THE STORY. Many of the concepts introduced here will be the baseline and foundation for the primary story of RWBY Build Fighters, and you will likely be seeing elements of this chapter being used later on in the story, so I don't recommend skipping it. I told you all I have a bigger narrative than just throwing random model kits into the ring to fight; this is what I mean. It started last chapter and is continuing here. **

**With that in mind, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

The brandy burned his throat as Qrow sipped it at the bar. He was never one to hold back on his liquor, and waiting around for contacts was mostly very boring.

The bar was pretty quiet. Many of the regulars were either actively working at the Gunpla tournaments in some way or were at the banquet for the fighters, which should be just about over by now.

He sighed. Part of him wished he had accepted Summer and Takeshi's offer to join the Gunpla Battle Referees, if only so that he could have had access to the party to see his nieces. He'd been running around on an assignment gathering information, and had only that same day gotten back to Tokyo. They'd been here a week now, and he still hadn't seen them at all.

'A P.I's work is never done', he thought to himself, swirling his glass around and listening to the ice clink inside the glass.

"You know, you're going to kill your liver with that."

Qrow perked up and turned on his bar stool, seeing a man approach. He smirked. "Mr. Ral. I didn't think you came to such fine establishments."

"I normally wouldn't on a night like this," Ral replied, taking a seat next to him and nodding up to the TV that was covering the preparations for the opening ceremony. "But I was asked to come."

Qrow gave him an odd look. "You too huh? Interesting."

Qrow looked up at the back of the bar thinking, staring at the bottles. So far he had been running around through several countries for weeks collecting evidence, but the case was far from clear cut. The purchase of Team Nemesis was one of the hottest topics in the Gunpla community as of late, and his investigations had not been easy.

His thoughts were interrupted once more when he heard the bar door open and several footsteps enter. Qrow turned his head around, glancing behind himself to see four newcomers approaching him. Two of them were Ozpin and Glynda, the younger blonde woman he vaguely remembered meeting the first time Ozpin had approached him. The other two however, he was intimately familiar with - Summer Rose and Takeshi Iori, two of his friends and also his contacts within the Gunpla Battle Official Referees.

"Well this is a surprise..." Qrow muttered, downing his drink and setting the glass down on the bar. "I thought I'd have a little more time."

"Qrow," Summer said disapprovingly. "Your family hasn't heard from you in a while, you know. I'm aware that you're busy, but you could at least let us know you're alive."

Qrow put his hands up defensively as she walked up to him, throwing a quick but soft punch at his shoulder.

"Hey there, Short Stack. Sorry about that."

Summer's fake anger cracked and she couldn't help but smile, pushing the hood out of her face and sighing. "Meh… it's fine, Stilts. Just promise you'll come by soon and see the girls? They miss you."

Qrow nodded and smirked. "I miss them too." He looked up to Ozpin. "So, what's all this about?"

Ozpin smiled and nodded to a booth to his left. "Why don't we take a seat. I've asked you all to be here for a good reason, and we have much to discuss."

Ral looked at him questioningly, but said nothing as he headed over to the large rounded booth in the corner and took a seat. Takeshi and Summer joined him, a mild look of concern as they sat down. Qrow stared at Ozpin for just a moment before joining them.

"So what's going on here?" Takeshi asked. "You know it's highly illegal to try and sway the officials of the Gunpla Battle Commission. It could potentially get all of your sponsored students disqualified."

Ozpin nodded in understanding as he and Glynda sat down. "I am definitely aware of that Mr. Iori, but this matter in fact has absolutely nothing to do with this year's Gunpla tournaments. I'm here to talk with you about the Seventh."

Takeshi and Ral exchanged wary looks. From the expressions on their faces, Ozpin knew that the Seventh Gunpla Battle Tournament still held a lot of mysteries surrounding it.

"I'm certain that much about what happened in the Seventh Gunpla Battle Tournament still confuses you to this day," Ozpin continued. "But seeing both Team Nemesis _and_ Team Godslayer re-enter the competitive circuit after tonight's dinner, I fear something similar is going to happen, and it could be at either of the two tournaments this year." Takeshi sat up, now looking very startled. "But to understand why I think that, it's important to fill you in on some details..."

"But Team Godslayer was cleared by the Gunpla Battle Commission for entry," Summer exclaimed. "We specifically made sure that the purchase and reallocation of Salem Autry's new company division wouldn't interfere with regulations."

"Actually, Salem Autry is precisely the reason I think something will happen," Ozpin explained. He turned to the blonde woman beside him. "For those of you who haven't been properly introduced, this is Glynda Baker, the younger sister of the personal assistant to Hiruto Mashita, the former Gunpla Battle Commissions Chairman. Miss Baker and I have been working with Qrow Branwen here, our private investigator, to look into the acquisition of Team Godslayer. What he has found however has caused a deal cause of concern, as it links back to the Seventh Tournament.

"During that tournament, as you and Mr. Ral both know, several mysterious events occurred involving the Plavsky Particle crystal. During the finals, Meijin Kawaguchi was coerced by force to wear a modified version of the brainwave-altering Embody system by Chairman Mashita, which as you might remember was used by Team Nemesis' pilot Aila Jyrkiäinen during the tournament. This system was illegally amplified to keep Kawaguchi in a hypnotic state, and as a result of this the Plavsky Particle system went completely wild, causing the main crystal shattering and newer ones to reform from the massive amount of Plavsky particles released into the air when it did. This obviously caused both enormous structural damage to the original stadium, and for a projection of a 1/144 scale A Buoa Qu space fortress to tear open the ceiling."

He looked at Takeshi and Ral. "You two, along with many others including your son Sei Iori and his partner Reiji Asuna, flew into the fortress and destroyed the massive crystal inside that powered the fortress, causing the entire structure and everything inside to dematerialize. In doing so however, Chairman Mashita and his assistant Theresa Baker disappeared, followed quickly by Reiji and Aila."

Takeshi placed his thumb on his chin as he thought. "I remember. We never did figure out how it happened, though. Or why. Sei seemed to be the only one who had some kind of understanding of what was going on, but…"

"His explanation seemed far fetched, correct?" Ozpin interjected. "That Reiji was supposedly a prince from some mysterious place called Arian?"

Qrow blinked. "Wait, why does that name sound familiar?"

"It should," Glynda interjected, placing a folder down on the table in front of them. Qrow raised an eyebrow before gently opening the folder. Ral peered over his shoulder, and both of them stared, dumbfounded at the report and pictures inside.

Qrow spread the documents over the table. "This is…"

"The Arian, the ill-fated Mars colony ship! A part of the 'Ark of Humanity' project that was meant to colonise other planets" Summer confirmed. The pictures were upside down for her, but the ship had a very distinctive design. "But, the Arianwas lost over a hundred years ago!"

"It was presumed a lost cause," Ozpin corrected. "Allow me to explain. As you know, the project started shortly after the fears of a third World War had abated. Funded by several governments and backed by the likes of Elon Musk and Bill Gates, Tomas Arian created the ambitious fifteen-year research project, a space mission that would see a colony ship capable of housing nearly fifty thousand people heading to Mars."

Glynda chimed in and continued "However 11 months into its journey, barely one month away from beginning descent procedures, the ship encountered a widespread debris field that wasn't dense enough for any sensory clusters to detect. The ship drifted into the field and was badly damaged. The ship was diverted from its intercept course with Mars, and was thought completely lost when all forms of communication were severed. After this event, the ship was observed slowly drifting what was thought to be hopelessly off course, and everyone on board was presumed dead."

"Except this was not the case, as NASA had expected. Instead of a titanic hull breach killing all hands, only five hundred and fourteen people died when the debris field destroyed the communications array." Ozpin nodded at the picture and pointed at the small satellite dish and large box connected to it on the top of the ship. "There was no repairing it, and the crew and passengers of the _Arian_ simply had to assume that help was not coming. Instead, they installed a course correction to get back on course, the long way around. It took an additional two years of waiting for Mars to come back around the sun, and far more of their supplies than they anticipated, but they succeeded in eventually making it to Mars. They positioned themselves on the dark side of the planet to do repairs away from the harsh glare of the sun, and to avoid the prying eyes of Earth."

Ral and Qrow looked at each other in stunned silence as Glynda spoke, as did Summer and Takeshi. Once Glynda was finished, Ozpin let them process the information for a few moments before continuing. "In the meantime, the former Duke and Duchess of Sussex rallied the people onboard. Alongside the captain and the command crew and Tomas Arian's daughter Arista, they managed to create the working foundations for a more permanent governing system. Together they re-establish the mission, albeit a different version of it because the ship could no longer land on the planet."

"Wait." Qrow put his hand up and stopped Ozpin. "Two questions: First, how do you know all this? And second, how the hell does this relate to the things you think Salem Autry did to purchase Team Nemesis?"

"The first is very simple." Ozpin sat back against the booth and looked at all of them. "I am actually from the Arian colony. In fact I was sent here on Prince Reiji's orders to investigate a second theft of the Arista Crystal."

The group stared at Ozpin once again in disbelief, but after a moment Ozpin continued "The second answer requires a bit more information. Allow me to continue, and your questions should mostly be answered."

They all nodded slowly as Ozpin settled in his chair, recollecting his thoughts. "The Arianwas established as a space colony, which we simply began calling Arian, and with the help of scientists and engineers, hydrogen fuel was created using ice collected from the planet's icecaps. Over about the next decade, mineral deposits were also found on various expeditions. Shuttle craft ferried geologists and equipment to and from the surface, until one day a new mineral was discovered. This mineral is what you refer to as the Plavsky Particle crystal, but we simply called it the Arista crystal at the time."

"So Plavsky crystals come from Mars?" Summer asked, shocked. "Why wasn't this public knowledge?"

"Because it was brought to Earth accidentally." Ozpin pushed his glasses up. "Over the next several decades, we discovered a variety of unique properties in the Arista crystal.

"At first it was used both as a precious gem for jewelry and as a superconductor for electrical components. Then, quite by accident, we discovered that strange particles emanated from these crystals when a large enough charge was sent through them. These particles were beyond anything we had seen before, and were capable of producing new technologies we had thought fundamentally impossible. This first breakthrough was followed a year later by the development of quantum teleportation. Furthermore, the crystals had an interesting effect on brainwave patterns and behaviour. With some additional refining, gems could actually allow wearers to communicate telepathically, resonating and syncing up the brainwaves of two or more people to have a mental conversation over considerable distances. This became a common way of settling disputes, as points of view became easier to understand and made for a more peaceful outcome between involved parties."

"You sound like you're talking about the Newtype connection, from the Universal Century Gundam franchise." Ral noted. "Can such a thing be possible?"

Ozpin nodded in answer. "Prince Reiji told me about his first meeting with Sei Iori, how Sei paid for the sweet bread Reiji mistakenly stole, who in return gave Sei an Arista crystal as a thank you. Reiji told Sei that if ever he needed help, to hold the crystal and wish so, and Reiji would appear. Later the following day Sei did exactly that, and true to his word Reiji appeared to help Sei defeat a young Gunpla Battler using the Build Strike Gundam. And if you were more observant, do you recall what happened to Reiji?"

Ral crossed his arms and thought carefully. It was several years ago, but he couldn't remember anything of Reiji after the battle. He shook his head and frowned in confusion, "As a matter of fact not really, I don't even remember seeing Reiji after the battle at all. The boy could've up and vanished for all I can recall."

Ozpin raised his eyebrows in surprise as if expecting that answer. "Ironically, you're nothing short of correct. That was because the Plavsky Particles emitted from the Gunpla Battle table resonated with the Arista gem Reiji gave Sei, who heard his cry for assistance through the crystal itself and teleported in."

"In fact it is this teleporting property that I'm sure you will find most interesting. As I said before, the discovery of quantum teleportation was a huge breakthrough. A person merely needed to wish to be somewhere, and with a large enough charge the crystal they wore would instantly transport them there. Sei made a wish that linked him to Reiji, and in doing so, Reiji answered the wish and teleported to him."

He closed his eyes, as if the next part was troubling to him. "This particular idea leads me to my next point, how one of the largest Arista crystals was stolen. A mischievous duo, troublesome and rebellious, broke into the vault of the palace on Arian. The authorities closed in aggressively, and in their panic they wished to be taken to the furthest safe place. Without a clear indication given, the crystal transported them to Earth - Literally the furthest safe haven they could go. You might recognise these two fugitives today as the Mashita brothers."

Takeshi blinked. "Then… Gunpla Battle as a whole…"

"Was built upon an accident, and turned into a profit." Ozpin folded his hands in front of him. "In summary, twenty years ago the Mashita brothers wound up on Earth with a giant alien crystal that could do things nobody thought possible. Despite their success, the older brother Mikio founded and funded an underground network that eventually became known as the Gunpla Mafia, to sponsor his younger more inept brother Hiruto, who began selling Arista gems as precious gemstones. Between them they very quickly amassed a small fortune, which they then used to hire engineers, who used the Arista crystal's plastic manipulation effects to create the first Gunpla Battle system. Within a few years, the Gunpla Battle table was being deployed in arcades everywhere. As the sport gained popularity and notoriety, Hiruto's wealth grew, as did the influence of Mikio's network. Eventually, Gunpla Battlle was officially recognized as a new eSport, and soon after Gunpla saw global competitive participation."

"Everything was going smoothly, until Reiji arrived," Glynda continued. "When the Arian prince appeared, it sent everything into a tailspin. Although he didn't recognize the brothers, or catch on to the Arista gems they possessed at first, his passion ignited a fire in Nils Nielsen, who was searching for the secret behind the then-mysterious Plavsky Particle, to find out if it could be used for other things.

"Eventually, during the Seventh Tournament, three things happened: Nils Nielsen and Catherine Yajima were captured and tied up in the basement level of the Gunpla Battle Stadium, where they saw the Arista crystal the Mashitas had stolen, Reiji and Sei's Arista gems were fighting against the Chairman's and his control over the Embody System the Third Meijin was forced to wear, and ultimately that battle of wills disintegrated the massive Arista crystal and oversaturated the arena, which led to its ultimate destruction during the Mock Battle of A Boua Qu, and the disappearance of my sister, the Chairman, Reiji, and Aila."

Takeshi sighed. "That explains why when we arrested Mikio Mashita he was talking about needing his pocket watch. It must have had a gem inside of it - if we had given it to him at any point, he could have...wished himself away, I guess?"

"Precisely." Ozpin turned to the man and nodded. "You were wise to keep it as far away from him as possible. Although if you do still have it, that gem should be returned."

"What happened to Baker and Mashita?" Ral looked bothered; their actions had given rise to Gunpla Battle, a sport he had become heavily invested in, but it was starting to sound undeniable that it was born from the desperation and greed of a pair of selfish individuals.

"Prince Reiji happened," Glynda replied. "Upon returning to Arian, Reiji was exceptionally displeased with Mashita, to put it very lightly. However without these events, Reiji's interest wouldn't have been piqued, he would never have met Sei or any of the friends he made on Earth, and, most importantly, he would never have met his future bride."

"So, they came to a compromise. My sister was the mind behind the administration of PPSE, and on her personal data pad and phone, she had all the things required to begin manufacturing the Mocks used against you and everyone during that battle."

"From there they began making Sumos, Man Rodis, Gundam Gusions, and Grimoires, as they were easily modified with the Mock as a base, before gradually building up the equipment for other mobile suit models. With Mashita's experience - lacking in motivation as he was - and Baker's intelligence and data, they successfully brought Gunpla and Gunpla Battle to Arian, as per their agreement with Prince Reiji. It saved them from prison time and helped the populace find a cheap stress relief."

"While Gunpla Battle is not as popular on Aria as it is on Earth, it has proven to be a pastime that has reinvigorated both the franchise of Gundam and the interest in science and robotics in ways we hadn't even considered," Ozpin added. "In the end, everyone won - Hiruto Mashita resumed his original role as chairman of a new PPSE, under Reiji's administrator's watchful eye, and Reiji and Aila were able to continue practicing their hobby. Though the idea of battling with Gunpla is actually rather rare - people generally don't like fighting on Arian - the application of the Gunpla Battle system has actually been used more as a repair or even manual labour tool, to assist in everything from detailed electrical repairs to larger scale industrial tasks."

"What about the new Plavsky Particle Crystals?" Summer asked. "Are those Arista crystals too? Did Yajima Trading find a supply?"

"No." Ozpin indicated to one of the other reports in the folder, which displayed an article of Nils and Catherine rediscovering the Plavsky Particle. "The genius mind of Nils Nielson combined with the resources of Yajima Trading, as well as the PPSE releasing some of their research on the Plavsky Particle, allowed him to create a synthetic version. Natural crystals are capable of many widespread phenomena, including telepathy and teleportation as we've just discussed. These synthetic crystals lack this vast array of abilities, but they instead give far more control over its plastic manipulating properties, hence the new Gunpla Battle. Frankly this feature is for the best, as Earth might not be… Socially ready, I guess I could say."

His look darkened. "Unfortunately, the Arista gems are still quite capable of amplifying even the new synthetic Plavsky Crystals, in such a way that they can cause tremendous damage to the outlying area, much like what happened at the Seventh Tournament." He turned to Qrow. "I take it you were able to dig up the reports the Nielsen Labs techs tried to bury?"

Qrow blinked, before nodding. "Yeah. About eight months ago, there was an incident at their private resort island. They scrubbed who was involved, and most of the data was purposefully deleted, rather thoroughly too. They were working on the new enhanced Plavsky crystals that PPSE is using for this tournament season. But from what I was able to find several incidents occurred involving their prototype Gunpla, their Scramble Gundam. The prototype went haywire, causing a spike in Plavsky Particle emissions. According to one report, one such spike nearly destroyed the building and, from some of Niels's personal logs that didn't get scrubbed, almost killed Nils himself and several of his scientific team."

Ozpin sighed. "That was because of Prince Reiji and Aila's daughter, Minerva. She kept an Arista gem embroidered in her berret, and disappeared for nearly a week at one point. During this short time she learned quickly that if she thought hard enough, she could gain mental control over the Scramble Gundam. But the Gundam reacted strangely to her inexperienced commands, and in one attempt to force the Gundam to fly to her, it ended up nearly destroying the lab. She also told me personally she was able to bring the Gunpla that I know now is the Kamiki Burning Gundam to her through the Arista gem resonating with the Plavsky Particle parts in it, flying it through the air. Which is how I know Team Try Fighters, as well as Kaoruko Sazaki, Mirai Kamiki, Minato Sakai, and Shia Kijima were there-after the incident, Princess Minerva ended up building a Petit'gguy with them, before coming home to Arian."

The table fell silent. The dots all connected, even if it seemed completely unbelievable. But then again, with all the strange occurrences that had happened… and the fact that Ozpin knew of so many details that simply weren't public knowledge...it had to be true.

"So…" Takeshi began to ask, still mulling things over. "What does this have to do with Salem?"

"Salem is the reason the Mashita brothers got the Arista crystal in the first place," Ozpin replied. "At the time, she was an attendant to Prince Reiji's father. An investigation revealed that she had transported herself with the Mashitas down to Earth, and assisted in bringing the Gunpla Battle tables into existence. And I'm positive that she will do her best to do something involving the new Plavsky crystal. She has to be aware that the synthetic crystals can interact with the gems. And if she knows this, she could end up using them to influence the way the battles go."

"Her plan is to interfere with the tournament?" Ral asked, skeptical. "That seems rather short sighted."

"No, her plan is to gain access into the PPSE, where the facility to create the Plavsky Particle crystals is, and use the Arista gems there."

Takeshi's eyes widened. "Oh...the grand prize…."

"Indeed. The winners of either tournament are granted a full tour of the PPSE facility. Just by stepping foot inside, and with a little technological hijacking, Salem could use the Arista gems to activate every PPSE-owned Battle Table in the world, flooding the Earth with Plavsky Particles and shutting down all electronics using PVC plastic that the Gunpla kits use. The newer Plavsky Particle crystals can generate far more particles than Arista crystals can. And they would oversaturate everything, and cause cataclysmic damage to surrounding areas."

Everyone at the table was speechless. "Thats…" Ral couldn't even begin to fathom it. And by the looks on the people around him, neither could they.

"A technological apocalypse," Glynda finished. "Brought on by the spite of a woman who has grown to hate Earth for the death of her parent's."

"Salem's family twisted her mind, making her believe Earth abandoned Arian," Ozpin explained. "When she and I first met, Salem expressed extreme dissatisfaction for the way Earth simply didn't even try to help us. Not like they would-their great experiment failed in their eyes, and we were likely dead. They couldn't get to us, two and a half years away from home. They decided that we knew the risks, and they had to move on. But her family lost four people in the five hundred plus that died from the asteroid impact, and their hatred and resentment for their homeworld runs deep due to what they feel is unjustified abandonment."

"And with an Arista gem, she could escape literally anywhere she wished." Glynda glanced at the table. "But, unfortunately, this is all conjecture at this point. However, she has assembled a team diverse enough to potentially conquer either tournament, though even just winning one would be enough to grant her the tour. And if she does, who knows how much damage she could do?"

"Stock markets would crash, computers around the world would literally melt, businesses would go under practically overnight, and economies would tank. Global communication would be cut off, and basic technology would fail. Planes could very well fall out of the sky for all we can predict." Qrow shook his head and took a long sip of his drink. "This is a lot heavier than I bargained for."

"Even a fraction of the planet being affected would take down the rest." Takeshi shook his head and placed his face in his palms. "This is a nightmare. We can't let this happen!"

"I agree. However, we have no legal authority to do anything, at this time. Without concrete proof, she can easily get out of any charges we levy against her. So for now, all we can do is remain vigilant, and if she slips up, capitalize on it."

"I don't like this," Summer said. "This is...too much."

"Yeah," Qrow agreed. "But, what choice do we have? I mean, it's not like we can just ignore this."

Ral thought for a moment. "I can try and discreetly contact people to help us keep an eye on Salem and her team. Beyond that, I suppose we simply have to wait."

"And this is all true?" Takeshi asked. He seemed to still be having trouble processing all of this.

Ozpin pulled out a small blue gemstone, perfectly round in all ways, like a marble, from his pocket. "See for yourself."

The table stared in awe as a red aura enveloped him, and in a blink of an eye he simply vanished. After a moment they heard the door to the bar open, and none other than Ozpin strolled through, walking once again to the booth where they sat. He gave them an amused smile, holding up the orb, which glowed a brilliant orange before slowly disappearing into thin air. "I trust you have no further question?"

"Oh I have plenty," Qrow said, "but knowing you, you're not likely to answer them."

Ozpin chuckled and shook his head in response. Glynda raised an eyebrow at them all. "I trust that this information does not leave this table?"

Takeshi shook his head. "Who would believe us even if we told them? If anyone asks, I'll just tell them you're a magician or something."

Ozpin smiled. "Fair enough then. I suppose we should be leaving in that case." Glynda left the folder for Qrow and stood up, walking beside Ozpin, who stopped and turned. "Oh and by the way Qrow? Your nieces are doing spectacularly. When you get the chance, because I'm certain that you will sneak off to see them, make sure to give them some words of encouragement. I'm sure it would mean the world to them."

Qrow looked at Summer, who gave him a bright smile and nodded in agreement. "You got it, Oz. See you around."

Ozpin and Glynda walked to the door in silence and left the bar. The four still at the booth looked at eachother. Eventually, Takeshi broke the silence.

"So, real talk. Who thinks he's crazy?"

"No… ... I don't think he is," Qrow answered. "Arian seems pretty real, and I'll be honest - I've never seen anything like that. Ever."

"But we have," Ral admitted, looking at Takeshi. "And if what he said about Reiji is true, it would explain a great deal about that boy."

"Yeah…" Takeshi sighed heavily. "Well then, looks like we all have our work cut out for us, this time."

* * *

**BIOS:**

**SPACE COLONY ARIAN**

The orbiting space colony above Mars was once meant to be the first manned colonization of the red planet. Lost in space halfway through its five year journey, Earth all but gave up hope on the survival of the thousands of colonists aboard the vessel, but in truth the entire ship had mostly remained intact, but was cut off from the Earth due to a random debris strike that killed over five hundred colonists.

Since discovering the Arista Crystals under Mars' surface, Arian has since developed much faster technologically than Earth. The miracle crystals have proven to be a boon for the colonists, and for over a hundred years, the people have prospered under the leadership of the governing council and the descendants of former Prince Harry of England.

The current descendent of Harry, Prince Arian von Reiji Asuna, is a member of this ruling council. His wife, Aila Jyrkiäinen, comes from Earth, and they have one daughter together, Minerva. Thanks to Reiji and his parental line's leadership skills, the entire colony is essentially a prosperous utopia, and with the aid of the Arista gems, fundamentally a paradise that has yet to be realized on Earth.

* * *

**QROW BRANWEN**

**Age: 38**

**Height: 5'10"**

**Hair: black**

**Eyes: red**

**Hometown: Kyoto, Japan**

The younger of the two Branwen twins, Qrow, on the surface, appears to be lazy, dispassionate, and at times even aloof. He frequents bars, is often drunk or seen drinking, and tends to enjoy life as it comes at him.

However, this couldn't be further from the truth. As a private investigator hired by clients to look into things such as corporate sabotage, illegal material trafficking, and counterfeit or unauthorized commodity production, Qrow tends to just keep a more relaxed and enjoyable demeanour as a way to throw people off their game.

He is incredibly precise and dedicated to his work, despite appearances, and he truly loves what he does, exposing corruption and stopping illicit goods from reaching markets. His vices (almost) never get in the way of his work.

His most recent job working for Ozpin might just change the entire world, however, in ways that he could never comprehend…

* * *

**GLYNDA BAKER**

**Age: 28**

**Height: 6'2"**

**Hair: blonde**

**Eyes: emerald green**

**Hometown: Malibu, California**

The strict advisor and close confidant of Ozpin, Glynda Baker has a deep and personal connection with his mission. Her older sister Theresa Baker disappeared during the end of the Seventh Gunpla Battle Tournament, eight years ago. While she and her boss, Hiruto Mashita, were listed as missing and the world presumed they fled to avoid prosecution for rigging the finals against the Third Meijin and the team of Reiji and Sei Iori, Ozpin revealed that Theresa was actually transported to Reiji and Ozpin's home of Arian, where Hiruto Mashita and his brother had come from.

Since this, and since visiting Arian for herself, Glynda has dedicated herself to assisting Ozpin in trying to unravel the mystery and plot that he believes Salem Autry is planning to unleash using the new synthetic Plavsky Particle Crystals and the Arista gems from Arian. To this end, she has become a powerful and dedicated woman, focused exclusively on Ozpin's plan and investigation.


	19. The Impossible Girl

**AN: Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out. Things have been pretty busy for Kyrus and me the last month and it took a little longer than usual.**

**That being said, I just want to show my most heartfelt appreciation for you all for the overall reception of Chapter 10. Truth be told, I was nervous about that one, because of all the lore bits I needed to connect and come up with, but for the most part, it seems everyone enjoyed it. I can't overstate my happiness and relief enough at that!**

**Since you've all been so kind and patient, I made sure that the events in this chapter are extra fun. And yes, I know some might gripe about the way it ends, but trust me-next chapter will make it very clear as to why. So sit back and enjoy!**

* * *

Ruby was blown away by the seemingly endless attractions that lined the Tokyo city streets. The Gunpla practically dominated local culture as the new craze swept through the population. Booths had been set up along parks for building and displaying models, and both kids and parents were participating enthusiastically. Arcades were suddenly booming with activity as people gathered in lines that often exited establishments, just to have a turn at the new consoles.

Ruby and Nora had decided to take the day to explore, and each was carrying a ginormous Zaku head-shaped cookie as they toured the strip mall next to their hotel. The string of shops lining the hallways seemed never-ending, not to mention that almost each and every one of them was holding a sale of some sort. Ruby was beyond excited, her head buzzing with the drone of chatter and shop sounds echoing in her ears. She had never felt more at home.

"So? Give me the details."

Nora's question pulled Ruby out of her mesmerized state. "Huh?"

"You're redesigning Yang's Gundam, ja_? _What are you gonna do with it?"

The Norwegian's enthusiasm was clearly visible. She was excited to hear the details of the new Gunpla Ruby had been building for her sister. With Gundam Destiny Scythe finished, she had been pouring her energy into the newly redesigned Burning Gundam Echelon to give Yang the best machine possible. This would mean that the sisters could actually have a proper rematch.

Ruby had been thinking about it since the regional contests. Yang should have beaten her. If it wasn't for her Skygrasper mode on Crimson Strike Noir's backpack gimmick, Yang would have easily had her beat. But simply winning against Yang wasn't good enough for Ruby.

She wanted to prove she was a better fighter.

"Oh…" Ruby replied, chuckling nervously as she took another bite of her massive cookie. "I wath juth habing fun wif it, and-"

"What?" Nora gave her a confused look. "You have too much cookie in your mouth."

Ruby mumbled unintelligibly, shrugging as she pretended to explain the details. She didn't want to spoil too much since she wasn't done yet. Not even Yang knew what she had been working on.

Nora scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Fine, I get it. Top secret."

Ruby giggled as she swallowed. "Sorry, Nora. I'm still working on it. Things might change, and I really want to make sure it's done for the tournament tomorrow before I blab too many secrets about it."

"Ooooooo so there _is_ a secret!" Nora's eyes lit up with excitement. "Tell me!"

Ruby frowned and paused for a moment as something caught her ear. Ruby looked over her shoulder to notice a Gunpla Battle arcade booth that had been set up, surrounded by a crowd. Standing in the booth next to the podium at its center was Coco, with Velvet next to her. Across from them was a ginger girl in green overalls, and beside her was an Indian girl in a blue skirt and wearing a beret.

"And now for our next exhibition match, we have the United States Champion Coco Adel and her Operator Velvet Scarlatina, versus the Canadian Nationals runner up, Penny Polendina, and her Operator Ciel Soleil!"

Nora heard it, too. "Hey, isn't Penny that really powerful girl Coco was talking about?"

Ruby turned, a spark in her silver eyes. "Come on! Let's check it out!"

The two managed to slip through the crowd and stood next to a young man in a long black trench coat. Nora didn't recognize him, but Ruby took one look at his face and immediately remembered the fact that he was one of the many people Coco pointed out to her and the others.

He flicked his eyes to the side, a small smile crossing his face. "Ruby Rose," he said, his voice low and reserved. It was barely above a whisper and caused a slight chill to rush down Ruby's spine, like when Jaune had tried his ASMR videos on her.

"Uh...yeah." She shifted awkwardly, trying to desperately remember his name.

His smirk grew with amusement. "Hathaway Novah. US Southwest Champion. I've been looking forward to meeting you."

Nora slipped between them. "Hey there, smooth talker. Ruby's taken, so just back off!"

Hathaway blinked. "Oh? I wasn't asking her on a date."

"Nora!" Ruby pulled her red hood up over her head. Her pale skin was flushed with embarrassment. "I am not taken! I don't even have a boyfriend!"

Nora stood up straight and proud, grabbing Ruby's hand suddenly and holding it as she would Ren's. "Of course you don't! You have me!"

Hathaway chuckled. "And what would your boyfriend say to that?" He gave her a knowing glance. "The boy I saw you with while you pilfered the food at the dinner?"

Nora blinked, panicking as she let go of Ruby's hand. Ruby covered her face, which had become almost as red as her hoodie at this point.

"Not to worry. I have no intention of hitting on Ruby." He gave them a reassuring smile. "It's more her building skills and her intelligent method of winning against her sister Yang Xiao Long that made me want to talk to her."

Nora and Ruby exchanged glances. "Why?" Ruby asked, confused with a hint of annoyance behind it. "Why is it everyone here gives me excited looks or wants to talk to me? What did I do that was so special? I just won the Northwest Regionals; that's not that impressive. I couldn't even go on to the Nationals because Crim was so beat up."

"It's not that you won that impressed so many people. It's how." He looked at her for a long second. Confusion set in even deeper on her face. "You really don't know, do you?"

She shook her head. "No. I didn't do anything spectacular. I got desperate and used a hidden gimmick to beat Yang. That's it."

He nodded, his deep blue eyes locking onto her silver gaze. "Look yourself up tonight on MyTube and see if that answers any questions."

Ruby raised her eyebrows in surprise. Her fight with Yang was really that well-received?

"GUNPLA BATTLE COMBAT MODE, STARTUP!"

Their attention was drawn back to the battle system. Velvet glanced over and waved at Ruby as Coco stood across from Penny. The girl across from the fashionista had a small smattering of freckles and a happy, excited grin on her face. As they set their GP base, she glanced over at Ciel, who nodded at her. The shorter, mocha-skinned girl had a serious look about her as she handed Penny a beautiful white, green, and black Gunpla with a plethora of accessories attached to it.

"Woah…" Nora gasped.

"So…" Hath commented, his eyes locked on the Gunpla, "that's the unit she used in the Canadian Nationals. What a beautiful kitbash."

"It's beyond a kitbash," Ruby notes, eyeing the screen above the fighters. "It has two of Gundam 00 Qan[T]'s shoulder shields, but there are so many modifications and additions to them that you'd almost not recognize them. I see a few pieces of the AGE-2 Magnum from Gundam Build Divers attached to it…"

"With two shoulder shields, that means that it has a GN twin drive system," he said to himself. The smile on Hath's face faded, replaced by a more serious expression. "That complicates matters."

"It's not just that, though." Ruby's eyes drifted to the modified backpack. "She has a Hi-Nu Gundam's fin funnels. Plus the X Rounder sword bits of the AGE-FX. It's just like Coco said-her machine operates using three completely different brainwave control units. Even though the functionality is the same, the control programs should be radically different. A Newtype control device, an X Rounder control unit, and an Innovator control unit…"

"The three programs must have been slaved together." Hathaway narrowed his gaze as he flipped to Coco. "And then there's Heavyarms Gianduja, which has a Zero System. I wonder how it will predict so many bits and funnels."

Nora looked over at Ruby, hopelessly confused. "Wait, so the three Gundams Penny took pieces from can't work together?"

Ruby shook her head. "Four, with the AGE-2 Magnum. And no, they all should have a different way of using their funnels. If she switches from one set, the other sets should stop moving. People have tried to mix sets before but could only do it if they used sets from the same show series, like all Cosmic Era or all Universal Century. I've never seen something this complex."

Coco eyed her own Gundam in its simulated launch bay. She grinned excitedly as the field was chosen.

"FIELD 4: MOUNTAIN. BATTLE START!"

"Coco Adel, Gundam Heavyarms Gianduja, launch!"

"Penny Polendina, Gundam Hi-FX Polendina, let's go!"

The two Gunpla units rocketed forward and exited into a beautiful simulated variation of Mt. Fuji, where Coco immediately landed in the tree canopy. The dark sunglasses-like visor over her Gundam's eyes lit up with crosshairs and targeting systems as she activated her HUD and Zero System.

"Alright, Vel, let's put those photography skills to the test. Be alert." Coco glanced to her right, looking over at her display that the Zero System showed. The future prediction program was working on overdrive to calculate the numerous possible outcomes to this situation.

"Right!" Velvet shouted. Coco sidestepped a green energy beam as it flew past her, backpedaling before the Zero System warned her of another attack to her rear. She ducked as one of the green 00 Qan[T] sword bits flew through the tree line, clear-cutting several large trees as it missed her machine.

Velvet looked around, using the various camera sensors on the Gianduja to try and gain a more accurate view of the battlefield.

Coco boosted backward into the trees as a second beam shot forward, before stopping and raising her left arm to deflect an oncoming blade. One of the AGE-FX funnels flew straight at her, and she batted it away. Alarms went off as two more beams of varying sizes shot from two different angles, forcing her to her knee to duck them, before pushing forward to dodge another blade and beam.

"Tsk, this is going as I expected," Coco said through gritted teeth, pulling back on her orbs to jump as a trio of beams slammed into the dirt and glassed the ground.

Ruby stood in awe as she watched the way Penny moved. She looked at the young woman opposite of Coco; rather than rely on the standard controls, she was effortlessly dancing in her control booth using a Mobile Trace system, moving like a conductor to orchestrate a seemingly endless barrage of attacks from so many directions it was dizzying.

_How could she command all the funnels at once like that?_

"Coco and Velvet are done if they can't figure this out," Hathaway commented. He stared straight at Penny's side of the screen, watching as the Magnum and FX funnels farted around, occasionally diving into the trees before flying back into the air. He noticed two specific things about them as they flew. The first was each one had a small beam cannon mounted to them. The second, and more important piece, as each one had a sensor unit, essentially turning them into flying cameras. The 00 bits didn't seem to have the same beam cannon but did have the sensor.

Her Hi-Nu fin funnels were still mounted to her back, which he found odd.

Ciel centered her camera feed on the lead Magnum unit, before flipping through several bits to get to one in prime position, hidden in the forest. It dodged on Penny's orders as Coco fired at it, but maintained visual on the Heavyarms Gianduja while it circled it from a distance.

"I recommend the attack pattern Beta Tri-Light," she suggested.

"Confirmed," Penny responded, waving her hands lightly to command two of the 00 sword bits and three FX bits into position.

Velvet scanned across the multiple cameras up, looking for any sign of movement. She blinked as the cameras spun. Coco twirled to the left, dodging another beam, and returning fire with her beam rifle in her right hand.

As the shot rang out, Velvet gasped. "Coco, to the left!"

Coco raised the beam Gatling gun in her left hand and fired, riddling the tree line with energy blasts. One of the bits crashed to the ground, unable to avoid the torrent as the air around it was replaced by plasma bolts.

Coco glanced at the Zero System screen, watching as it calculated the next move. She grinned as the display showed her exactly what she wanted to see. "Gotcha."

She moved her beam rifle to the right three degrees and fired. The yellow beam shot through the trees and collided with a pair of FX bits that flipped vertically and formed a shield in front of her target, the Hi-FX Polendina.

Penny made a cute chuckle as she dashed to the left, avoiding a second shot. The bits protecting her followed suit. "I commend your computations," she complimented, "but unfortunately, I have already factored them into my strategy."

"Strategize this!" Coco clicked on the left orb in her hand and twisted it to the second slot, before confirming her selection. The side skirts of the Heavyarms Gianduja opened up to reveal missiles which fired forward, towards Penny.

The Hi-FX Polendina locked onto the projectiles and fired, but before the beams connected, the missiles exploded into a brilliant, blinding flash of light. Penny flinched, and Ciel turned the cameras of the bits away from the flares.

"Lost visual!" Ciel cried out. The flashbangs slowly dissipated, and both girls began to open their eyes. The Heavyarms Gianduja was gone, a massive smokescreen left in its wake that completely surrounded the area it had once stood.

Penny looked around, attempting to find it. The bits twisted around, hovering about her, circling her. The different kinds of blades pointed outward as they circled the machine, prepared to lash out if needed.

"Switching to sonar." Penny's viewpoint changed to a sonar grid, and her blades encircled her, spinning slowly around her. She deployed four of the six Hi-Nu Gundam fin funnels on her backpack and activated the prism field around her, just as a series of missiles pelted her position. She spun around and boosted to the right, deactivating the green beam shield pyramid surrounding her.

Ciel cycled through the feeds, looking for any trace of the machine. "It's highly probable the Heavyarms will attempt to flank you from the west. Her Zero System is beginning to detect patterns in your attack and compensating."

"Affirmative." Penny sent a few blades into the air, above the tree canopy, to scout for Ciel. She reattached the fin funnels to her backpack and kept her blades close for redeployment.

"They're really good," Nora commented, watching in awe. "It's almost like they can read each other's minds!"

"You're not far off," Hathaway quipped, watching the two machines circle each other in the lull in the action. "Coco's mech has the Zero System in it, a future prediction program. It's showing her many of the possible outcomes of the battle every passing moment-not as robust or complicated as the in-universe version, but still. Penny, though, has many cameras she can deploy, meaning that Coco can't hide. So far, the two are balancing each other."

Ruby looked at him. "But the more Penny fights, the more the Zero System learns about her."

"And the more accurate it's predictions." He glanced at the girl. "Still, a Zero System typically can peg an opponent quickly. The fact Coco's hasn't yet means Penny is toying with it. She knows it's analyzing her moves and is throwing it for a loop by pulling the unexpected. But eventually, it'll pick up on that, and I imagine there are only so many things she can do to stall it."

He glanced back to Coco, who seemed to be realizing the same thing.

"Change of plans, Vel. I want a target lock on the entire area." She turned and boosted towards the base of the mountain, quelling the feeling of frustration in her voice.

"You're going scorched earth?" Velvet was typing in the parameters swiftly as they ascended.

Coco nodded. "I can't get a good read on her without seeing her. Plus, Trees are in the way."

They landed on a small ledge on the side of Mount Fuji, and Coco turned around. She opened up every hatch on the Heavyarms Gianduja. Kneecap mounted missiles taken from the Gundam Leopard, the calf mounted missile pods, the missiles in her shoulders and hip, and the chest-mounted quad Gatling guns all popped open.

The bristling array of weapons that was the Gundam Heavyarms Gianduja prepared itself. Velvet scrambled to finish the targeting vectors, then nodded. "Got it!"

"Try dodging this!" With a roar, Coco unleashed an absolute torrent of beam shots, missiles, and bullets into the forest below. The devastation set the area ablaze, clear-cutting spots in the treeline that gave her small pockets of visual lines of sight. The impacts and explosions riddled the forest, razing much of it in front of them.

And that's when she noticed them.

"Coco, the bits!" Velvet popped a screen up and shot it to her side, where it slid to a stop on Coco's HUD. And that's when Coco saw it, too.

"Sneaky. Cameras on all the sword bits. No wonder she could keep track of us." She smirked, impressed. "Too bad we now have the upper ha-"

Her comment was cut off by alarms. She looked, the hatches to her weapons closing up as she moved out of the way of a titanic green beam shot. The blast borrowed directly into the mountain, cutting a glasses hole through the stone. Both Coco and Velvet blinked, following the shot to its source.

As it subsided, Penny's Gunpla stood, all six of its fin funnels deployed. The Hi-Nu Gundam weapons had combined their beams with the beam rifle the Hi-FX Polendina carried to create a Death Star-like super laser that would have certainly decimated the Heavyarms Gianduja, had she not dodged in time

"Shit," Coco cursed, looking around.

The shot had been a distraction.

The Zero System had calculated this, but there hadn't been any way to avoid it. Penny had them surrounded.

Nearly all of her thirty sword bits now swarmed like Giant angry hornets around Coco and Velvet. The fin funnels and a few FX bits stayed with Penny for defense.

"Velvet, options?"

Velvet looked around, her face drooping a bit. "I….I…"

Her mind was running a million miles a second. How could someone control this many large bits? How did they all work together? How did Penny guess what they were going to do? Did she have a Zero System too? Is it even possible for someone to command such a presence on the battlefield? How can they escape, CAN they escape? Why did-

"Velvet!"

Her name being called snapped her out of her stupor. Velvet glanced around, taking in the scenario.

"Coco, how badly do you want to win this?"

Coco gave her a slight look over the brim of her sunglasses, shooting her girlfriend a devilish look. "Hun, it's just an exhibition match." She turned back and happily focused on Penny's machine. "That being said, I don't like to lose."

She clicked on the left orb and scrolled to the fourth slot there. Velvet typed on her own controls, and a holographic lock locked on the screen. "Limiters off."

Coco selected the fourth slot, her excitement growing. "Purge all non-essential armor pieces."

The chest coverings for the body-mounted quad Gatling guns, the waist-mounted skirt armor, the shoulder pauldrons, and their missiles, and the calf-mounted missile pods all ejected, leaving the Heavyarms Gianduja standing with little in the way of proper armor. Its head looked downwards, before twisting sickeningly up and around like a man being possessed by a demon. Its dark visor glowed an angry red, and a single word flashed across its transparent eye covering.

The gathered crowd began to murmur as Coco dropped her heavy minigun in favor of a beam pistol hidden inside her shield. She held it in her right hand, with her beam rifle in her left.

Hathaway and Ruby both stared, wide-eyed. "Holy shit," Hath muttered. "Is that-"

"EXAM?!" Ruby exclaimed. "Paired with the Zero System?!"

Nora cocked her head, confused. "Wait, I don't get it. Why'd she drop her minigun and like, half her armor? And all her missiles?"

Hathaway paused for a moment. "The Zero System is a future prediction program," he began. "Its purpose is to analyze an opponent's patterns and predict all of the possible outcomes, every second the fight goes on. EXAM is a powerful and deadly berserker mode that boosts the speed, agility, reaction time, and strength of a mobile suit, though sometimes at the expense of its control. It could run completely wild and attempt to overwhelm an opponent with enhanced maneuvers, but essentially do so without any input from the pilot. And the Zero System has been learning Penny's tendencies all fight. I've never thought of combining the two."

Ruby nodded. "EXAM mode is like a more extreme version of Jaune's HADES mode. And by dropping all that weight, she sacrificed defense for mobility. And look, it even unlocked additional thrusters on the back of her calves, hidden inside the legs. Between the enhanced speed and reaction time and the predictions from the Zero System, she could possibly outmaneuver Penny." She glanced at the Heavyarms Gianduja. "But that much processing power will take its toll on Coco's Gunpla. If she doesn't end it soon…"

"What could happen?" Nora was intrigued by this net development and was eager to see how it'd play out. She clenched her fists together in a vain attempt to calm herself.

"Total system failure," Hath replied simply. "She's on borrowed time, now."

Ciel began to panic, repositioning the camera feeds. "Penny, you must finish this now!"

"Affirmative!" Penny waved her hands, posing into an offensive stance. Her sword bits reacted, swirling around her and surrounding Coco.

Coco's smirk grew, and she waited for exactly three seconds. And, right on cue, the Heavyarms dodged almost on its own as the Zero System predicted an incoming stab. It ducked just as a trio of short beam shots rang out, and jumped high into the air as a swarm attack commenced on her position.

She flipped upside down in the air, arms extended in each direction. She fired one of her back thrusters for a short burst, turning to the left slightly while upside down, and fired two shots, one from each weapon. Both beam blasts nailed a bit on either side of her as they came around for another pass, destroying them as she tumbled gracefully through the air.

Her arms shifted a bit, repositioning themselves. Her left arm came and covered her head as she righted herself in midair, deflecting a sword bit. It skittered across her small Gundam Local Type personal shield, and she turned her head and fired her head-mounted Vulcans to catch it as it passed her, nailing a thruster and causing it to explode. Her arms crossed and she fired another two beams, which again caught a pair of bits mid-movement. One exploded, while the other barely missed the beam, though it crossed close enough to melt the camera mounted to it.

Coco moved her arms again, firing ahead of her with her pistol to dissuade another beam attack from coming at her, and then unleashed a burst of bullets from her Gunpla's chest to catch and destroy one more bit before landing in a crouched pose.

Penny stood, surprised as the Heavyarms Gianduja rose. She repositioned seven of her bits in front of her.

Upon seeing this, Coco nodded. She pushed her sunglasses up with one finger. "It's playtime."

Coco rushed in a frantic blitz, firing her beam rifle and pistol as she spun, ducked, and dodged the incoming blasts of the Hi-FX Polendina.

Ciel frantically switched between cameras, looking for any kind of possible opening in the barrage of fire being thrown at the slowly advancing Heavyarms. "Penny, switch to Attack Pattern Delta Pi Gamma-"

"Negative," Penny responded, dancing in her booth to control the motions of the various bits. "I have an alternative plan."

She spread her arms, repositioning the bits around her. Hardlight lines representing the remaining mobile weapons appeared in front of her as she withdrew them, bringing all of them closer to her.

Coco noticed the change in the attack patterns and began a full-frontal assault as Penny withdrew. The FX bits that remained kept flying in front of the incoming beams, blocking them like shields as they stood upright and crossed each other to increase their strength.

Velvet kept a close eye on the movements. Penny had switched to a defensive stance but still pressed Coco with a powerful screen of green beams.

Coco jumped above an incoming blast, dodging a sword bit and kicking it into the ground before flipping and firing again. Her advancement persisted, and she had closed much of the gap between them by the time she landed.

And then, Velvet jerked upright. "Coco! Two of the bits are missing! Watch out!"

The Zero System lit up with a host of new predictions at that moment, causing Coco to pause for a second to take it in. And as she did, a 00 blade bit slid across the ground behind her, attempting to take out her heels. Coco jumped in time to dodge and her pistol fired, destroying the offending blade, but a beam from amongst the trees caught her unaware and burrowed a hole into her beam rifle. She tossed it aside as it exploded, being rocked by the explosion and sent closer to Penny.

She right herself as she got into striking distance, controlling her descent and activating the forearm mounted beam saber that she had used to replace the Heavyarms combat knife. She flipped into a right hook, beam blazing as she swiped at Penny.

The Hi-FX Polendina took a back step and raised its shield, connecting with the chin of the Heavyarms and knocking it backward. She pointed the tip of her shield at Coco and fired a pair of missiles. Coco easily shot them down, then ducked an incoming swipe from a sword bit. She twisted and fired at another one, but it narrowly dodged out of the way. She spun to the left and grabbed the back end of one that tried to stab her, muscling it into one of the fin funnels that attempted to fire at her.

Beads of sweat poured from Coco's face as she moved in conjunction with the predictions. Each motion tired her out a little more, and her arms began to feel the strain of the twists and turns. But she gritted her teeth, taking out one bit after another, swinging or firing at Penny's Gunpla at each opportunity.

Penny smiled and dashed forward, igniting a large, high output green blade that collided with Coco's magenta sword. She was forced to withdraw when Coco opened fire with her four chest miniguns, blocking the armor-piercing rounds with her shield. She swung her arms and, with a flick of the wrist, launched another coordinated assault.

Coco kept twisting, turning, and firing, killing bit by bit as they assaulted her. She planted her leg down and fired her pistol, slashing at another sword bit that got to close and cleaving it in half. She spun on the ball of her foot and slashed again.

She turned one last time, but this time was blindsided. One of the AGE-2 Magnum bits sliced into the right knee of her Gundam, severing her leg at the knee joint. She turned and tried to boost away, attempting to get around another pair of beams, before charging Penny.

Her beam saber swung down as she roared forward, pushing the Heavyarms as hard as it would go. The blade came dangerously close to Penny, but she sidestepped it at the last moment and grabbed Coco's extended right arm with her left hand, dropping her shield in the process. She pulled Coco forward and ignited the green saber that she held in her right hand, impaling Coco's Gundam straight through the face.

Three of her remaining sword bits sealed the Heavyarms Gianduja's fate by embedding themselves into its back. Penny deactivated her saber and released Coco's machine, letting it drop to the ground as her remaining bits came back to her. The Heavyarms Gianduja fell, lifeless, slamming into the grassy rocks at the base of Mount Fuji.

"BATTLE ENDED!"

Coco roared in frustration as realization set in. Penny had managed to dupe the Zero System by getting her in close. With one move, she crippled the Heavyarms by distracting Coco and forcing her to focus on too many attacks at once in close quarters. When she was at a distance, Coco could keep up, but once she got within close quarters striking distance, even the EXAM's reaction speed increase couldn't compensate for the tactical maneuvering Penny displayed.

The holographic displays faded, and Coco wiped the sweat from her brow. She huffed, before walking over to Penny and offering her a hand. "Gotta say, I'm very impressed. Now I see why you made it so far. With moves like that, I'm surprised you're not the Canadian champ"

Penny smiled happily and accepted her hand. "Your skills and prowess are both superb! It was a great pleasure."

Ruby looked at the two with awe. Her eyes sparkled with excitement. "That was awesome!" She cried out, raising her hands up happily. Hathaway sidestepped the motion, reflexively backing up to avoid her fist hitting his chin. He chuckled at her enthusiasm, and at Nora's barely contained brimming energy.

"I can't believe we just saw that!" Nora exclaimed.

Coco sighed as they parted, before glancing over at the crowd. She heard familiar voices and gave them a lopsided grin. "Well, if it isn't Red and her crew. Sup?"

Penny and Ciel began to walk down the stairs but turned when Coco began talking. She noticed the two girls and the boy Coco and Velvet had approached, and gasped, rushing over to greet them.

"H-hey!" Ciel tried to get Penny's attention but failed miserably. She gave her a cross look and shifted her beret slightly, before walking over to join them.

"Excuse me," Penny said, interjecting herself into the lighthearted conversation they were having. "Are you Ruby Rose?"

"I-um…." Ruby again was caught off guard, not knowing how to handle the query as Penny encroached on her personal bubble, looking as if she were trying to get a clearer look at the girl.

After a moment, Penny's face lit up with joy. "It IS you! Oh, how I have wanted to make your acquaintance since gaining the invitation to the Doubles Tournament!"

"Heh, more fans," Coco teased.

Ruby turned to Hathaway. "This thing on MyTube...is it really that big of a deal?"

Hath shrugged. "Well, I think her reaction speaks for itself."

Penny grabbed her phone out of her pocket and typed on it, before handing it to Ruby. "Your win in the Regional Championship and the unique way it happened is being likened to examples such as Sekai Kamiki versus Wilfrid Kijima, or Sei Iori and Reiji versus the Third Meijin Kawaguchi."

She showed her an article, and Ruby took the phone to read. Her eyes lit up in surprise. The article was published by one of the more prominent Internet personalities regarding Gunpla Battles and was indeed comparing Ruby's win to some of the larger and more popular battles of the past few years.

"But...it wasn't that impressive," Ruby commented, confused. "And I trashed Crim. I don't know why people think it was that good."

"Doesn't matter what you think," Coco remarked. "It matters what the populace thinks. And the populace has made you famous."

Ruby blushed, smiling at the praise as she turned back to Penny. "Um… Well… thanks, I guess."

"Oh, it is no problem!" Penny replied enthusiastically. "I hope that we might be able to compete against each other soon."

Nora cocked her head to the side. "How do you control so many bits? We were watching and the way you were controlling everything was crazy!"

Penny smiled at her, her eyes dancing with the thought of sharing her secret. "Ah, well, that is-"

"Classified," Ciel interjected. "I don't believe Professor Polendina would appreciate us discussing his research without approval." She withdrew the GP Base from its case. "And speaking of this, I think it's time to return to your father. He will be eager to look over the data collected today."

Penny gave her a sad look but nodded. "Very well." She turned back to the group and bowed slightly. "If you will excuse me, I must be going. My father is a bit of a worrywart, as you say, and will want to talk in length about today." She nodded at Velvet and Coco happily. "Thank you both for the enjoyable battle today. I hope we meet again soon."

"Right back at ya," Coco replied with a wink and a smile, "Next time, I won't lose."

Velvet giggled and hugged Coco's arm. "Take care, you two!"

Penny waved goodbye as she and Ciel took their leave. Ruby waved back; she seemed like a wonderfully nice girl. She hoped she'd get a chance to talk with her again soon.

"So, what are you guys gonna do for the rest of the day?" Coco asked once Penny had turned around.

Hath shrugged at the question, "Not sure. I hadn't thought about it."

"Oooo! I want to get some bubble tea!" Nora blurted out. Ruby yelped in surprise as the Hyperactive girl almost knocked her over, thrusting herself into the middle of the group.

"Heh, alright. I wouldn't mind a friendly chat with the enemy," Coco agreed. "Let's go."

Ruby nodded in agreement but stopped as she felt a pair of eyes on the back of her neck. She turned towards the crowd behind her, which had started to focus on the next battle in the arcade. Everyone else had their eyes turned to the screens, except one young woman who was staring at them with her phone raised like she was recording or taking their picture.

Compared to the others, she stuck out rather prominently. Ruby noticed that her hair was split into two colors, as well-the left half was brown, while the other was pink, and her eyes were the opposite, with her right eye brown and left eye was pink. She wore a mischievous smile, and upon realizing she had been noticed, she retreated into the crowd with a wink.

"Hey, Ruby! You coming?"

Ruby turned to Nora, noticing that she and the others had already started moving. She took one last look at the crowd, but the woman was already gone. "Yeah, coming!"

They headed for a nearby shop, managing to get a table in the sun while they waited for their orders. Coco smiled as Velvet leaned on her shoulder. She glanced over at Hathaway, who seems less open compared to Nora and Ruby.

"Hey, Hath." Hathaway turned to Coco with a neutral expression on his face. "We didn't get much time to chat at the Nationals. I wanted to say that I'm pretty impressed with your ability to kitbash random pieces to make a functional Gunpla. But what made you take that method? Most like having their own machines."

"Indecisiveness," he replied. "I have a hard time choosing what gimmicks I want or machine best suits me." A smirk crossed his face as he leaned back. "And, I like the idea of throwing people off and not letting them know what they might be getting into."

Nora grinned. "Sounds fun! I wonder what you'd bring out if you and I fought!"

Hath shot her a glance. "Time will tell. I usually don't even know what I'll use until I decide to build it. I rarely even make suits to counter opponents. I just make them because I want to make them."

Ruby fiddled with her phone for a moment. "Earlier, you looked like you wanted to get a look at Penny's Gunpla. How come?"

"Kitbashing is an art form, as you know," he replied. "You can't just throw parts together unless you adapt them to work together. Most people see it as structural weakness, and instead, use designs from other suits to influence how their primary suit is modified. Like the 00 Sky from Gundam Build Divers. Or most of your Gunpla."

He stared down at the table, thinking. "The fact that Penny has merged three similar but different brainwave systems together and uses them in conjunction means only one thing: she didn't just kitbash the suit together. She kitbashed the systems."

Coco glanced over her sunglasses at him. "Wait, so you're saying she's using a hybrid system? Is that even allowed?"

"I don't think there is anything against the rules about creating new code to merge different brain wavelength control systems together."

Nora tilted her head to the side. "So, is Penny like, unbeatable?"

Ruby shook her head. "No, remember? She's the runner up in the Canadian Nationals. She lost to Evelyn Damerot."

Coco nodded. "Yup. It was an incredible fight. I was actually hoping I could mimic her movements using EXAM and Zero together." She sighed. "Too bad it didn't work."

Velvet put her hand reassuringly on Coco. "You did great, love."

Hathaway crossed his arms. "Coco, you tried to emulate Evelyn, and Penny managed to corner you. But you were using two different systems to achieve the same result. I think that was the problem."

"What do you mean?" She shot him a confused look.

"I've known Evelyn and her partner Jack for a few years now," he explained, "and one thing I can tell you is this: Evelyn is, in the nicest way possible, chaos incarnate. Her fighting style with her G-Self, the G-Hopper, is so sporadic that even Zero System suits can't predict her movements. There's no logical reasoning for the excess dodges, spins, thrusts, and sudden stops she makes in a fight, and that's intentional. Penny, for all the bits and funnels she has, couldn't discern a pattern, and got overwhelmed by a repeated hit and run attacks, until Evelyn dodged and one of her own blades hit her backpack and disabled her flight. Since they were in space, that essentially was as good as a kill shot."

Nora grinned. "She sounds like someone I'd like to meet."

Velvet perked up, seemingly having a bit of a revelation as the bubble teas were delivered to the table. "That explains how Penny managed to outmaneuver us! The Zero system gave Coco the best courses of action to fight the bits, but they were still essentially program-generated movements Coco followed. Which means…"

Hathaway thought for a moment as he slowly sipped on his. "Huh. So she has a Zero System as well?"

"No way." Coco shook her head. "I would have recognized her moving before she moved. My Zero System would have tried to counter hers, and we would have ended up in a standstill. Something else was going on."

Ruby held her bubble tea, silently listening to the others as they brainstormed. All of this was useful because she knew Penny was a dangerous opponent and one she and Weiss might encounter her in the Doubles Tournament.

_How can we beat someone who could out-predict a Zero System? _She asked herself. _I'll need to watch the fight between her and Evelyn. Maybe that-_

She was snapped out of her thought process by her phone ringing. She looked down at it; Yang had texted her. Her eyes got wide as she read the words, panic welling up inside her.

"Sorry guys, I gotta go," she said abruptly, standing up and grabbing her tea.

"Hey, what-Wait!" Nora cried out after her. Hathaway, Coco, and Velvet looked at each other, confused.

Ruby ran all the way back to the hotel she was staying at with the others. She opened the door to Yang's room, where she and Blake were sitting. The air in the room was thick with dread, with Blake folded up on the bed, knees pulled up to her chest. Yang was at her desk, holding a Gunpla.

Ruby approached her sister, trying to see what was in her hand. Was she building something new? If so, why did she look so distant? "Yang?"

Her sister glanced up, her lilac eyes puffy from crying. She opened her hand, revealing a badly damaged Burning Gundam Echelon. The shoulder on the left side had been destroyed, a massive slash was made across the chest. Ruby noticed that her sister had a red welt across her chest in the same spot-a residual effect of assimilation.

The most prominent damage, however, was the part that was replaced. The Gunpla's right arm had been swapped out with an Astray Red Frame arm from the upper arm joint down.

"Ruby..." she said weakly, anger and sadness filling her voice.

"What happened?"

She handed her the damaged Gunpla. "I need your help. I'll tell you everything, but that new Gunpla you're going to give me tomorrow? I need you to change something."

Ruby took a seat next to Yang and looked over the Burning Echelon. "How did this happen?"

"Adam," Blake said from the bed. Ruby looked over at her; her cheeks had tear stains on them. She seemed to tremble from just mentioning the name. "It was Adam."

* * *

**PENNY POLENDINA**

**Age: 16**

**Height: 5'5"**

**Hometown: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada**

**Team: Calculators**

Penny is an exceptionally atypical fighter among the competitors in the tournaments. The runner up to the Canadian Nationals, she is an ambitious and powerful fighter, a master musician, and aspiring painter. While these things seem very dissimilar to each other, her fighting style perfectly suits the fluid action of both a conductor of an orchestra and an artist. Many say that she is not so much fighting an opponent as she is conducting their defeat.

Penny is an extremely polite and innocent-seeming individual, carefree and happy go lucky to any who meets her. Her love of Gunpla and the free-flowing movement she uses to control her machine, the Gundam Hi-FX Polendina, are openly demonstrated in her natural grace and refined elegance of movement in the battle simulator.

Socially, however, Penny is a bit awkward, coming off as forward and sometimes a bit overzealous with her desire to interact with others. However, she is very well-meaning, and very considerate of others, and is a loyal friend to those who get close to her.

**PENNY'S GUNPLA:**

**Gundam Hi-FX Polendina**

A unique hybrid machine taking design concepts of the Gundam 00 Quanta, Gundam AGE-FX, and Gundam AGE-2 Magnum, and merging them together with the backpack of the Gundam Hi-Nu Gundam, the Gundam Hi-FX Polendina is a masterful and artistically beautiful machine. Painted green, black, and white to reflect her own personal colors, the Hi-FX Polendina combined three completely unique psychic control modules in an unknown way to allow Penny expert and fluid control over the massive number of mobile weapons attached to her Gunpla.

The Hi-FX Polendina features a twin drive system due to using two of the shoulder shields of the 00 Quanta and retains all six of the A, B, and C GN blade bits on both. It also has two of the AGE-2 Magnum's F Funnels mounted on the outside of these shields.

Due to it using the two wing-like extensions of the Hi-Nu backpack, it also has all six fin funnels that machine used. The core of the machine, however, is made up of the Gundam AGE-FX, and as such is covered in 12 of the 14 normal C Funnels mounted across the machine, with two of the smaller backpack funnels moved to attach to the Hi-FX Polendina's calves. All of these C Funnels have been modified to fire small beams, resulting in a lethal combination of ranged and bladed weaponry committed for all range attacks. Every remote weapon has also been modified to have a camera attached to it for Penny or Ciel to get better views of the battlefield, allowing any of the bits to act as scouts.

For standard weaponry, the Hi-FX Polendina uses the large bladed beam saber the Nu Gundam and Hi-Nu Gundam are equipped with, complete with the small beam dagger mounted on the end of it, for close-range combat, though in a pinch any of the 00 Quanta sword bits can double as handheld weapons. Penny carries a modified Hi-Nu Gundam rifle meant to interface with some of the AGE-FX C Funnels to amplify her beam rounds, though she has also developed a super laser type special attack using the Hi-Nu Gundam fin funnels. When the C Funnels and fin funnels are both used, the resulting output is said to rival a fully charged shot from Gundam Double X's Twin Satellite Cannons or Wing Gundam Zero's twin buster rifle.

Of important note is that, due to the processing power needed for each individual mental control system, normally no system can support more than one of the psychic wave weapon sets at a time. Penny controls three: the Celestial Being Innovator control system, the Hi-Nu Gundam's Psycommu system, and the X-Rounder mental control system of the Gundam AGE-FX. How she can control three different sets of weapons simultaneously is unknown.

* * *

**CIEL SOLEIL**

**Age: 18**

**Height: 5'1"**

**Hometown: Montreal, Quebec, Canada**

**Hair: navy blue**

**Eyes: blue**

A studious and self-assured girl with an interest in military tactics, Ciel is, herself, rather indifferent to the prospect of Gunpla Battle, but does enjoy the analysis of opponents in a fight. She is rather rigid in her personality, choosing to act like a soldier before a teenager, though usually only when around strangers. Penny finds her both warm and endearing one on one and has known Ciel for most of her life, building such a close bond with her that she requested Ciel specifically to be her Operator and partner in both the singles and doubles tournaments.

Ciel typically only opens up to Penny and finds herself awkwardly trying to avoid conversations with anyone except Penny or her father. She often simply uses excuses that are mere variations of "I don't think we have time" to get her and Penny out of chats, which has limited Penny's social interactions somewhat. She does feel a deep sadness for being so uncomfortable, but she also isn't sure how best to get over this issue. However, she does respect Penny's wishes often and has been trying to become more accommodating.

It would appear that Ciel also knows of Professor Polendina's research into the nature of the Battle System, and tends to keep Penny on a tight leash when topics shift towards Penny's unique control of the Gundam Hi-FX Polendina. Whatever the secrets are that she keeps Penny from sharing, however, are anyone's guess.


	20. Renegade

"Bada-bada-bada-badaBADA!"

Emerald glared at her partner, who chose this moment to break the ever-so-pleasant silent car ride with one of his annoying jazz beatbox moments. His oversized headphones swayed back and forth on his head as he bobbed to the beat, lips pursed and thumbs tapping against his thighs to the beat of whatever song was playing.

He seemed oblivious to the world, humming deeply to the bass line as his eyes closed and he concentrated. "It's time to blow this scene, get everyone and the stuff together. Okay, three, two, one let's jam!"

She sighed as Mercury went into full beatbox mode, ignoring the fact that the other two people in the car could hear him. She smacked him in the chest, catching him off guard. He removed his headphones and shot her a dirty look. "Hey!"

"Could you, like, not scat for three minutes?" She asked with a bit of an edge in her voice.

"What? It's 'Tank!'" Mercury replied as if the name should carry any kind of meaning for Emerald. She didn't appear to have any reaction "You know, from Cowboy Bebop? One of the greatest animes of all time?"

Emerald scoffed. "It's jazz. From an anime from over a hundred years ago. I highly doubt that."

Merc shook his head. "Please. This is the anime fan's 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' You don't just not sing the song when it comes on. It just isn't done. It's like sacrilege to not sing it."

"It doesn't even have lyrics!"

"Of course it does. Here, listen-"

He rewound the song and attempted to put his headphones on her head, but she very quickly blocked him with her forearm, his hands pushing against her. "Hard pass. It'll be a cold day in hell before you get me to sit through that shit."

"You two are acting like children," the driver said, stopping both of them in place with a sharp tone. "Are you really the best Roman had to send with me?"

Mercury leaned back against the car door and shrugged. "Hey, beggars can't be choosers, Adam. You came to us."

"And I'm beginning to regret it." Adam's eyes were hidden behind thick sunglasses, but his head moved ever so slightly, which both Emerald and Merc caught. He was glancing at the back seat at them in the mirror, likely judging them.

"So...why did you want to do this again?" Emerald asked. "Seems a bit stupid, if you ask me."

"Well, that's why nobody asked you," Merc replied with a smug smirk.

"Shut up."

Adam focused on the residential area they were driving through. It was a neighborhood he'd been through hundreds of times, but this time, it felt different. Which, of course, was because it was different.

"We're doing this," he started, explaining slowly with a tone you'd use on a child who was testing your last nerve, "because I want to show up my old teacher before the Battle Royale. This Gunpla I've built should be more than up to the task of taking her on. If I can beat her, then I know I'm ready to take on someone in the actual tournament."

Emerald shrugged and leaned over so she could look at him better. "But couldn't you ask anyone to fight with you?"

"No. This is personal."

He gripped the steering wheel tightly and frowned. The humiliation he had suffered at the hands of his former teacher had been a hard pill to swallow, and it had left him a bitter and angry mess for the last week. Roman Torchwick had approached him with an offer to both join the World Championship with a sponsor, and to use the resources at his disposal to enhance his own Gunpla. And he took it, with the sole purpose of becoming stronger.

They pulled up in front of the destination, and Adam stepped out of the car. The backseats opened, and Emerald stood on the edge of the car door frame, eyeing the building in front of them. "The Branwen Gunpla Doki? This is where you wanted to come?"

"Raven Branwen made a fool out of me," Adam commented, adjusting his sunglasses, "and I intend on repaying the favor."

Mercury smirked and glanced at Emerald, who was still leaning on the top of the car. She gave him a similar look as Adam walked towards the dojo. "Not like it's that hard to do…" he muttered to his partner, who giggled slightly and hopped down out of the car.

* * *

A few short moments later, the trio had arrived at the entrance. Adam pushed the doors of the building open. He walked through them as if he owned the place. At one point, he may as well have. He was the Branwen Dojo's star pupil, besides the young upstart who had joined the dojo on a whim and sailed past nearly everyone in it. Adam balled his fists at the thought of Sekai Kamiki; the kid was good, and even Adam had to admit that. But he was brash, impulsive, and tactically ineffective in battle. His own stubbornness carried him to victory almost as much as his martial arts prowess, which-while considerable-could hardly be called masterful.

And on top of this, he had heard that some blonde who was participating in the upcoming tournaments managed to gain a spot at the dojo, and was fighting on par with Sekai! The very fact Raven let some random stranger in, without verification or any sort of advanced payment like she had required others, was absurd.

The dojo's occupants grew quiet as he approached the main training room. He saw Sekai and a cute girl with short white hair face off against the new blonde and someone else that he couldn't see. They were blocked by the blonde and the bright holographic cockpit.

Standing in a fifth spot was Raven herself, positioned between them and looking over the battlefield in the familiar straight built Astray Red Frame she often used with students. The two teams appeared to be practicing maneuvers and not actually sparring, while the other students took notes.

The eyes in the room turned to the doorway as Adam entered. Emerald and Mercury noticed it immediately; shock and fear crossed most of the faces of the others. The looks were genuinely amusing.

"You'd think they've never seen a pariah before," Emerald quipped under her breath to Merc, who chuckled slightly as Adam approached the active battle table.

Adam looked over the group as he slowly approached, shaking his head dismissively. Overall, he couldn't begin to believe what he was seeing. "So, this is what the famous Branwen Dojo has been reduced to? Riffraff?"

He glanced to his left and caught sight of Sekai's teammates from Team Try Fighters scowling at him, but was immediately drawn back to the table when one of the Gunpla, a stock Gundam 00 Qan[T], crashed into the rocky surface of the holographic terrain. "BATTLE ABORTED," the computer announced, and the Plavsky Particles dispersed, the table-turning back into its the normal state.

The blonde's purple eyes clocked onto Adam, anger welled up inside. "Mom, who's this edge lord?"

Adam laughed a little. "Mom? Oh, I can see the resemblance. You must be Yang, the daughter our fearless sensei so happily abandoned ages ago. A pleas-"

He stopped as he looked at Yang, noticing the person behind her cowering. She ducked behind the blonde, her jet black hair barely peeking out from over her shoulder. He stared at her for a long second, before being interrupted by Raven, who began to walk around the table towards him.

"Adam Taurus," she started, her voice low and thick with warning, "I thought I warned you never to step foot in this place again. What are you doing here, disrupting my class, and desecrating my dojo with your presence?"

Adam scoffed. "You make it sound like I'm some sort of nuisance-"

"This is your final warning, Adam." Raven came to a stop on the other side of the table and stopped, arms crossed in front of her. "Leave. Now."

Adam removed his sunglasses and smirked, shaking his head. "No. No, I don't think I will." He began slowly pacing as he spoke. "See, despite what low, idiotic ideas you might have contrived for yourself to explain the fact that you removed me, the fact of the matter is...I have every right to be here as everyone else here does. I paid the price for the classes, I jumped through all your hoops and hurdles, and I even dumbed myself down a notch or two so that I wouldn't show your precious students up. And you removed me because I did what was asked-I practiced fighting in Gunpla Battle with someone."

"You purposefully and willingly engaged in a fight that you knew was explicitly against my rules, Adam," Raven shot back. "You know that my dojo has few rules beyond the simple good sportsmanship and respect. One of those rules is, we do not fight above C grade damage, which you disregarded when you fought Sakura in a one on one fight. She was ten years old, and you left her Gunpla in such a state that it's good for melting into a 3D printer to make new parts, but nothing else."

She sighed, her grip tightening on her forearms. "Perhaps it was arrogance on my part to believe I could somehow curb your destructive nature, but you should have known better than to violate the rules of my dojo."

Yang noticed that Sekai was tensed up, and hand his taped fists balled. "So you're the reason Sakura quit?" he asked aggressively.

Adam pointed at Sekai with his sunglasses. "First of all, Sakura asked me to show her what the World Tournament was going to be like. I thought it'd be fitting to show her world-class talent, so that's what I did. Blaming me for her own mistake is asinine to the nth degree." He then turned to Raven. "Secondly, if these students of yours are serious about taking on world-ranked fighters, then they all need a harsh dose of reality. You think you're doing them any favors by holding their hands while they fight?"

Yang rolled her eyes. "Wow, you really are a piece of work, aren't you? Coming here, bringing a couple of thugs. What do you want, edgelord?"

"What I want, Blondie is to show Raven exactly what I can do." He looked from Yang back to Raven, who remained unimpressed. "I want her to pull out her actual Gunpla-not the straight build Astray she keeps using-and fight me."

Raven narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

Adam slid his sunglasses into the collar of his shirt and opened his arms, inviting her to accept his challenge. "Why not? What do you have to lose?"

"Nothing." Raven shook her head, her expression souring. "And I have nothing to gain, either. I have no use for such a battle. It would be a waste of your time and mine."

"Oh, it wouldn't be a waste of my time." He shot a look behind him at Merc and Emerald. "See, I got a sponsor now. I have someone to fund and represent me for the World Tournament. These two here...call them insurance to protect my benefactor's investment. You don't need to worry about them. And, you do have something to lose by refusing me, too-your reputation." He grinned, seeing the sparkle in her eye. "Refuse me, and I promise I'll run this dojo's name through the mud so hard you won't have a class to teach next year."

"Very ill-prepared of you to announce your plans to your target," Raven shot back. "You are a nineteen-year-old ego-dominated fool, Adam. I'll say this one more time. Leave before I sue you for slander"

Yang stepped forward, eyes locked on him. Her fists were clenched, ready to fight. Adam raised an eyebrow as she addressed him. "Hey, jerkwad, if you wanna go, I'll gladly beat the tar out of you!"

He sneered, shaking his head. "I don't think-" but was cut off by the sight of the person who had been hiding behind the blonde. The black hair, golden eyes, and scared expression were all too familiar. "Blake?"

Yang blinked, and noticed Sekai glance at the girls. She turned around slightly. "You know this guy?"

"Yeah…" Blake admitted sadly. "He's the ex I told you about before…"

Yang was shocked, and then turned back to Adam. He swore he saw red flash in her lilac eyes as she stood, looking as if she was about to charge him. "You're the asshole who abused and manipulated Blake?"

"Abused?" Adam approached her, but was stopped by Raven, who stood between the two. Her eyes now had a dangerous edge, though Adam ignored it. "You have no idea what you're talking about! How dare you! Who do you think you are?"

"Her girlfriend and your worst nightmare."

Adam recoiled slightly. "Ugh. Clearly her taste in partners has devolved."

Yang nearly barreled into him, stopped only by Blake's hand on her shoulder. "What did you just say-"

"Enough!" Raven hollered.

Adam inhaler slowly, never removing eye contact from Blake and Yang. "Fine," he said after a short moment. "I changed my mind. I want to take you two on. Merc, Emerald, and myself, against you two."

"That's not fair!" Sekai rounded the table and came to Yang's side. "You can't just do a three on two match!"

"And who's going to stop me, Kamiki? You?"

"I'll be their third partner," he declared. "Yang and Blake and me versus you three. Unless you're too scared."

Emerald shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

Raven sighed, realizing this was going nowhere. In all honestly, she didn't want to call the police and had hoped that things would have just fizzled out naturally. She looked at Yang, who in turn looked to Blake. "Well, what do you want to do? I'd rather settle this now, one way or another."

Blake looked terrified. She glanced back at everyone, slowly trying to take deep, relaxing breaths to calm herself. After a moment, she nodded, standing upright.

Yang's hand found hers and she squeezed it, feeling Yang return the gesture. It eased her tension significantly to feel comfort.

The white-haired girl came up to Blake and offered her the use of her Gunpla. "Here. It'll help get you used to the one I gave you."

Adam watched the exchange as Blake hesitantly took the custom 00 Qan[T]. "But, Shia, if I break it, you'll need to fix it by tomorrow."

Shia smiled happily and tilted her head to the side. "Don't worry. I can fix it, no matter how badly its damaged."

Blake grasped the Gunpla and nodded, before turning back to Adam. Her face no longer had a fearful expression. Instead, she had one resolution, focus, and acceptance. She furrowed her brows. "I think we need to settle this, Adam."

"My thoughts, exactly," he replied, before nodding to Mercury and Emerald and approaching the battle table.

"GUNPLA BATTLE COMBAT MODE, START UP! MODEL DAMAGE LEVEL SET TO A! PLEASE SET YOUR GP BASE!"

Blake placed the GP Base Shia gave her onto the table, and all of the others did the same. She couldn't help but smile at the cute little cat ears Shia had added to the 00 Qan[T], which was the very feature Blake had admired about the original version that Shia had given to her. The one that was still drying back in her room after she painted it that morning.

Yang looked over at Sekai; the Gunpla he was using was one she hadn't seen. It looked far more intimidating than the Try Burning. She could almost sense the spirit of battle infused into its design.

"FIELD 12, ISLAND!"

The battle table shimmered as the holographic table transformed. Shia stepped off the raised platform where it stood and stood next to Fumina and Yuuma. She smiled happily as she watched Blake admire her Gunpla.

"Shia, you aren't worried about the 00 Shia being damaged?" Fumina ask, confused.

"Blake told me about Adam when I lived with her in America," she explained. "I want to help her defeat him, and she'll need a stronger machine than the one she was practicing to do it." She looked at Fumina, her smile growing slightly. "I can fix it or rebuild it if I need to. This is important."

Yuuma pushed his glasses up on his nose, looking at the field. It was a war zone, complete with artillery shells and beams from a faraway battle flying occasionally into the battlefield. "They're fighting in Orb," he commented on, looking at the holographic, destroyed M1 Astrays and Strike Daggers littering the coastline.

Yang crouched down, excitement overtaking her. "Alright. Blake, Sekai, you ready?"

Blake nodded, her mind focused. Yang knew this wasn't easy for her, but she was proud of her. "Let's do this."

Sekai grinned. "Sekai Kamiki, Kamiki Burning Gundam, let's go!"

Yang and Blake followed him out, landing on the coastline. But their opponents hadn't launched yet.

"So, what's the plan?" Emerald asked Adam. "I'm assuming you have one. Should Merc take the blonde and-"

"No. I'll take Blake and her girlfriend alone," Adam cut in. "It'll take both you and Mercury to fight Sekai."

Merc scoffed. "He's just a kid. How big of a threat could he be?"

"He can fight Wilfrid Kijima, who is set up to become the next Meijin Kawaguchi, on even ground." Adam took position on the catapult, the Mobile Trace system copying his movement as he moved his right hand to the hilt of the blade attached to the back of his beam rifle, which he wore on his hip like a scabbard. "No matter how good you two are, Sekai is world tournament material; you take him together or you fall alone. And I won't pick you up if you fail."

Emerald rolled her eyes. "Charming. Bawoo Mirage, launching!"

Her green and silver Bawoo took off in two separate halves, the top and bottom flyers shooting out side by side and circling each other in the air, perfectly in sync.

Mercury put his earbuds in and pressed play, gripping his control orbs with a confident smirk. "Hey, suits me just fine. Mercury Black, Gundam Vidal Black Thunder, comin' at ya!"

Mercury's Gunpla mixed the armor of the Gundam Vidar and Kiramis Vidar together, with additions mounted to it. The machine was painted in the navy blue, white, and red of the Thunderbolt Sector Full Armor Gundam, and featured a back-mounted cannon and missile pod, and the usual hip-mounted sword sheaths the Vidar used were replaced with high mobility boosters similar to the Gundam Astaroth's. A pair of large, custom shields based on the Kiramis Vidar's shields sat on sub arms that overlooked its shoulders. It carried a double-barrel cannon on the right arm and two smaller shields on each arm for added defense.

Adam waited until the others were past their gate before launching. "Adam Taurus's Gundam Wilting Spallow. Launch!"

The final member of the team was perhaps the most daunting. Its head was elongated, with a white protruding visor mounted on its red helmet, with a dark grey faceplate. Its black V-fin was swept backward and stuck out like horns. The small frame of the Gundam AGE-1 Spallow was mixed with the dangerous looking AGE-1 Razor design, and featuring the shoulders of the AGE-1 Swordia. The entire machine was streamlined, and it easily moved through the air like a bullet, landing gently in the sand like a black and red shadow. It's dual eye-like sensors on its visor, rose motif on his right shoulder, and A on its chest glowed a menacing reddish-pink as he glared at the others.

"Wow, he really went all out with the 'edge lord' schtick," Yang commented, smirking at the fact his Gunpla was proof of her earlier comment.

"I'll take him," Sekai shouted, boosting forward and moving to strike Adam. His fist soared forward but was intercepted by Mercury's right sub arm shield, which didn't budge at all from the impact. Sekai dodged backward as Mercury swept his right foot upward, the Vidar's toe mounted knife swinging up and narrowly missing the Kamiki Burning Gundam's chest. Mercury stood, perfectly stable, as he lowered his foot back to the ground.

"Sorry, kid, can't let you do that."

Sekai landed a few meters back but was struck by a micro missile in the left shoulder. He gritted his teeth and looked behind him as the top flyer of the Bawoo Mirage sailed past him, before dodging a pair of beams from the bottom flyer that made a pass from the right.

Yang turned and opened her shoulder-mounted machine cannons, aiming at the bottom flyer of the Bawoo Mirage. But as she locked onto it and fired, both halves of the machine faded from view, disappearing into the blue sky. "What the hell?"

Fumina gasped in shock. "Invisibility?"

"That Gunpla is using the Mirage Colloid system," Yuuma said, gritting his teeth. "And it can split into two units. They'll be in trouble if they can't counter it."

Blake kept her eyes on Adam, holding her GN Sword V defensively. Yang watched as Mercury prepared another assault, firing the twin rifles at the Kamiki Burning Gundam. Sekai dodged backward and to the side, but was blindsided by a beam shot that blasted the sand from under him, causing him to trip up and land awkwardly on his knee. The Bawoo Mirage reappeared and combined, landing next to Mercury.

"This is too easy," Merc commented, tapping his foot lightly to the beat of the jazz in his ear.

Yang gritted her teeth and boosted to help him, but was caught off guard by a red blur. She heard Blake call out a warning, but was struck hard by a powerful kick that sent her careening into the shallow part of the ocean. She sat up, stunned, seeing Adam's Gunpla standing meters away, between her and Blake.

'So fast!' she thought to herself as she stood.

She got a good look at his weapons now. He indeed had some kind of katana-like hilt mounted to the back of his rifle, which he held by a handhold at the top. She saw no actual grip for the rifle, but that didn't mean anything. She did see a deep pink physical blade mounted to the bottom of the weapon, which told her he could probably swing that thing and use it as a sword to a degree.

"I'm disappointed in your partner, my love," Adam said as he slowly walked between them, his back facing Blake. "She talks big for a loser."

Yang stood up out of the water and growled. "Don't you dare talk to Blake that way, asshole."

Adam shook his head and took a stance traditional of a samurai preparing to quick-draw his sword. Yang balled her fists and began throwing punches into the air at him, each motion firing Shining Shots from her Shining Gundam gauntlets at the Wilting Spallow. Adam responded by drawing his beam saber, making precise slashes into the air to block and destroy each bolt.

As he finished fending off the fifth shot, he spun quickly and clashed with Blake, mounting his hilt back into the beam rifle and catching her sword with the blade edge on the bottom of the weapon. He opened fire with head-mounted machine guns, forcing the 00 Shia to retreat as he sidestepped Yang as she tried to land a blow.

Blake floated on her GN particles over to Yang, who was trying not to let her frustration get the better of her. Adam was fast. Faster than she had expected.

"Damn, how do we beat this guy?" Yang asked. "Do you know anything about his Gunpla?"

Blake shook her head. "No. He used an Lord Astray before; this one is different. It's a lot faster."

Adam flicked his left wrist, and the scabbard flipped up into beam rifle mode. The handle he had been holding onto became the rifle grip as the weapon folded up and around his hand, and he aimed and fired at the two of them, forcing them to scatter.

Adam was pleased with their reactions. Neither of them had a good way to lock him down, and so far, he could tell that both of their skills were woefully inadequate. He glanced over at Sekai, watching as Mercury and Emerald seemed to play with the boy. "Don't let him gain the upper hand! Destroy his Gunpla and get over here!"

The Vidar Black Thunder dove at Sekai, trying to land a kick, but it was blocked by the Kamiki Burning's forearm. He boosted backward and reoriented himself as Sekai charged, blocking his fist with his left arm shield and slipping to the side, using his own momentum to upset his balance. Sekai stumbled for a moment, then jumped out of the way as a volley of micro missiles exploded on his last location. The Bawoo Mirage, back in the air and in two pieces again, circled around and recombined, before aiming its beam rifle and firing, forcing him to move again.

"Gotta admit, he's pretty decent," Merc noted as he opened fire with the shoulder cannon. The artillery shell flew at Sekai, who managed to use a palm strike to deflect it to the side. He charged Merc again, who jumped up and avoided his fist, bending backward to dodge the blow before boosting with his right knee thruster and rapidly delivering a heel kick to Sekai's cheek, sending him off balance.

He fell forward onto his hands and knees, looking up as Mercury shot his shoulder cannon again. Sekai pushed up and avoided it, turning as he noticed the Bawoo flying low at him. Emerald ignited a yellow beam saber from under the barrel of her rifle and moved to impale the Kamiki Burning. He twisted, avoiding the saber, and cried out as his fist impacted into the faceplate of the machine. He flinched immediately afterward as another artillery shell impacted next to him, sending him flying as Emerald separated and took back to the sky in two pieces.

Blake watched as Sekai landed in the water, then was immediately struck by the shockwave of an artillery strike from the map, a missed shell from the far off battle in the background slamming into his position and knocking him flat. "We have to help him!"

"We need to help ourselves first!" Yang replied as she rapidly tried to punch Adam, who dodged expertly or blocked the blows with his rifle.

Blake nodded and clicked on her left orb, rotating to the second slot, then third, then fourth, clicking on each as she did. All six of the blade bits in her shield launched and began shooting forward. Adam ducked a haymaker from Yang and shot backward, using his beam saber and sword to deflect incoming attacks from Blake's bits.

Adam gritted his teeth as he skimmed across the beach, dodging into the treeline as three of the bits slashed past him. He was annoyed and surprised by how good of a fighter Blake had become. He flipped his sheath into rifle mode and shot one of the bits out of the sky, jumping over a second and spinning to avoid the third.

He boosted upwards and shot a glance at Merc and Emerald, who were pressing their advantage on Sekai, but the fight was too even, to tell who was winning. He turned and fired on the Kamiki Burning, getting two shots off before Blake's 00 Qan[T] appeared in his view and tried to dive at him, forcing him to retreat.

Warning alarms went off on Sekai's left, and he turned and jumped away from the two incoming bolts, narrowly missing a pair of shots from Emerald. Mercury attempted to approach him from behind, but Sekai noticed the waves beneath him. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath, and spun around. "Jigan Haoh School, Soten-Guren Ken!"

His fist ducked under the incoming bladed kick Mercury launched, and he connected straight into the jaw of the Vidar Black Thunder, knocking it into the air. Merc's cockpit shook from the impact, and he grunted as his Gunpla was sent skyward.

As Sekai came back down, landing in the ocean's shallows, his Gunpla began to glow, and a fiery explosion emitted from the exposed sparkling blue parts across its body. Emerald recombined and landed next to the Vidar Black Thunder on the beach, which was slowly getting back to its feet.

"Well...that's something," she commented, as a ring of fire appeared from the back of the Kamiki Burning Gundam.

Mercury snorted dismissively. "Lucky shot."

The black circle with the white "Kami" sign on the Kamiki Burning Gundam began to glow, and a massive beam blast shot forward at the two. Both of them moved in opposite directions to avoid it, with Mercury circling Sekai's left, firing his twin slug rifles to distract him as Emerald dashed forward with her beam saber. Sekai responded by igniting six fireballs from the ring emitting from his backpack, firing them at Mercury, which forced him to halt his attack and block them with the sub-arm-mounted shields.

Sekai reached behind him and grabbed the sheathed longsword mounted on the back of his waist. Flames shot forward as he brought it to bear against Emerald, blocking her beam saber. She attempted to swing her rifle around so its beam bayonet could slash at him, but Sekai grabbed the weapon long before it got within striking range, and fired the shoulder beam a second time. Emerald separated and flew away, forced to abandon her beam rifle to the grip of the Gundam.

"Jigen Haoh School, Senpu Tatsumaki-Geri!" Sekai leaped into the air, spinning about as Emerald attempted to evade him. The Kamiki Burning Gundam began to rotate furiously, creating a high-speed twister in the ocean that sucked the two halves of the Bawoo Mirage in and spun them about uselessly.

Emerald attempted to cloak the two halves of her Gunpla, but the twister made remaining invisible useless. The top half came within striking range, and a swift and powerful kick from the Kamiki Burning sent the top flyer straight into the ocean, disrupting the Mirage Colloid particles, which began to dissolve on contact with the water. The bottom flyer landed in the shallows, suffering similar problems.

The rest of the students and Sekai's teammates watched in awe and excitement as the tables evened out some in Sekai's favor. Yuuma smiled slightly at Sekai's technique. "That might have been the only real way to counter that kind of Gunpla," he said. "It only took him taking a couple of dozen attacks to realize it."

Fumina glanced at Raven, who still wore a sour look on her face. Clearly, the dojo master was not happy with the fact this fight was happening, though she looked less concerned about Sekai and more concerned about Adam.

Mercury watched as Emerald transformed her top half back into robot mode, struggling to move in the wet sand that had sucked her into it. Without her lower half, the Bawoo Mirage was essentially dead in the water, literally. She cursed at her situation, anger welling up inside her. "Damn it! Hold on, Merc!"

He turned his attention to Sekai, who put his sword away and dashed at him, fists raised. He buckled down, preparing to defend, raising all four shields in an effort to give him the best cover. Sekai's fist impacted with the left sub arm shield just as Yang came flying backward towards them, skidding to a halt in the sand with Adam on her tail.

Yang ducked under a slash and lashed out, connecting with a cross jab. She pulled her fist back and prepared a body blow with her left hand, but saw Adam swing his scabbard around. She shot her wrist thrusters to the right, skidding to her left into the water as she avoided the blow.

Adam used the momentum of his missed attack to carry him into a defensive block against another sword bit. He knocked it away just as Blake rushed him, her GN Sword slashing up across his torso. He backed up, avoiding the blow as the wind scattered from the swipe.

He landed in the water and resheathed his beam saber, crouching down. He had Blake in front of him and Yang behind, and he knew that he couldn't fight one without the other coming in from his blindside.

His fingers loosened and tightened around the grip of his beam saber, antsy. He waited, watching both of them, flicking his gaze from in front of him to behind.

It was Yang who made the first move, predictably. She charged, closing the gap between them quickly. Three radiator fins deployed from the shoulders of the Wilted Spallow as Yang impacted. But, instead of hitting Adam's Gunpla, the only thing there was a phantom.

Fumina gasped. "Wait! That's the Gundam F91's afterimage!"

Raven grimaced. She could see Adam's moves, and the grip on her sleeves grew more intense as she watched him easily circle to Yang's side.

Surprised, Yang gasped, blinking as she attempted to register what had just happened. Blake saw Adam from a distance and opened fire, trying to draw him away from Yang as she recovered her bearings.

"Yang, move!" she called out, trying to get her attention. Yang looked over at Adam, who was dodging left and right so fast he left a trail of ghosts and a massive wake in the shallows.

"What just happened?"

Adam laughed, deactivating his metal peel-off ability and retracting the radiator fins. "You're too slow, Blondie. I don't know what Blake even sees in you. You're not all that bright to attack an opponent who was obviously waiting for you."

Yang clenched her fists, closing her eyes in an effort to control herself. Adam's taunt, however, had awoken a dragon, and instead, she responded by slamming her fists together in front of her, activating her Berserker mode and assimilating with her Gunpla. The blonde hair from the Nobell Gundam she used for Burning Echelon raised behind her, and her machine began generating an angry red aura.

Adam blinked, but then smirked as an idea came to him. "So, you can assimilate like Kamiki. Good, then you're going to feel every last cut."

He boosted forward, flipping his rifle out and firing as Yang approached. She ducked and wove under the rounds, slowly advancing hop by hop, her fists raised defensively like a boxer. Adam flipped the rifle back into scabbard mode and lashed out with his beam saber, missing Yang as she got in close and nailed him with a left hook. He blocked her body blow with his scabbard before kneeing her in the stomach and firing the Spallow's Needle Gun at point-blank range.

The piercing round hit Yang hard, and she doubled over as Adam backed off in time to dodge a downward slash by Blake. She floated just in front of Yang, who stood back up, a small hole in the midsection of her Gunpla. "Yang, are you alright?"

"I'm going to rip him to pieces," she called out angrily. Blake pushed forward to attack, but Adam dodged, reactivating the afterimage effect to dodge and strike. Blake brought her shield up to defend herself, though the saber cut a deep wound into it. She backed up and clicked on her right orb, circling over to the SP slot, and selecting it.

Her machine began resonating a deep pinkish-red as Trans-Am activated, and she launched her own assault against Adam. The two machines, now evenly matched in speed, briefly took to the sky, swords clashing against each other as Adam attacked Blake and dodged the remaining sword bits that flew at him.

Yang watched as Blake forced him back down towards her, but was kicked out of the sky and hurtled down towards the ground. Adam chased her, increasing his speed and sweeping his beam saber out of its sheath to cut the 00 Shia in half.

At the last second, however, his blade sailed through an afterimage of Blake's own creation, surprising Adam as she quantum teleported behind him. What surprised him, even more, was, once his blade cut through the quantum clone of Blake, the Burning Echelon boosted up and landed a powerful straight punch directly into Adam's face, crunching the visor on the Wilting Spallow on impact. The Spallow recoiled and was sent into the air, where Adam had to quickly recover and regain control just as Blake swept over and tried the same move he had just attempted.

Yang looked over at Sekai, who had managed to push the Vidar Black Thunder back. One sub arm had been ripped away, and the cannon on Mercury's back had been crushed. He was trying to avoid Sekai's assault, but the Kamiki Burning Gundam followed him relentlessly. "Jigan Haoh School, Ryusei Rasen-Ken!" he screamed, his right fist rotating furiously as it ignited into a spinning fire tornado that impacted the torso of the Vidar Black Thunder and blew a hole straight through it. She watched Mercury, in a last-ditch effort to finish him off, fired his small missile pod on his back at point-blank range, riddling the Kamiki Burning Gundam with high explosives that blew its head and left arm clean off and caused it to crash to the ground.

She could hear Sekai in his cockpit, screaming in pain as the effects of assimilation hit him hard with each impact. Both the Vidar and Kamiki Burning came to a rest in a heap, completely inert.

That just left Adam, her, and Blake.

She turned back, her determination renewed, as Adam pressed Blake. She teleported again but was caught off guard as Adam brought his sword around in a full revolving slash while in mid-air, connecting with her own blade and knocking it away. He prepared to bring the blade of his scabbard down on her, but Yang intercepted it and blocked it with her gauntlet.

He kicked her in the face, landing in front of her before boosting forward. She tried to deliver a kick to him as he advanced, but he merely sidestepped it, his afterimages leaving her confused for a moment before she tried again. He dodged a second time, but she caught sight of him on the third attempt and slammed her fist into the side of his scabbard, knocking him backward slightly. He gripped his beam saber, once again mounted into the scabbard, and weaved under another blow before unsheathing it.

Yang backstepped in the nick of time to avoid getting cut in half, but the slash-cut across her chest and removed the tip of one of the V-fin horns on her head. The pain she felt was intense like a curling iron had just fallen across her chest. She screamed in pain as she backed up, tears welling up in her eyes.

Adam pressed his attack again, and Yang tried to counter, throwing a wild right hook out. She watched as Adam sidestepped it, and realized immediately that her arm was in his strike zone. She couldn't retract it in time.

She immediately reached out with her left hand and hit the status indicator on her cockpit that showed the health of her Gunpla. With a single button press, she detached her right arm just as Adam's blade connected with it, sparing the joint of the upper arm and allowing her to escape. She jumped backward, her arm now numb since it no longer had anything to sync up to in the Mobile Trace system.

Adam came at her again but had to dodge as Blake rushed him, one of her sword bits in hand. She swung it like she had her sword, forcing Adam to retreat. "Yang, are you alright?"

Between the numbness in her arm and the blazing pain on her chest, Yang knew she was far from alright. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

Blake turned just as Adam blitzed her, knocking her backward and away from Yang. She was forced on the defensive, doing her best to stave off the sudden aggressive attack pressed against her.

Yang could only watch in dismay while kneeling on the sands. Adam had sliced the connection piece to Burning Echelon's arm. She couldn't use it now, and that left her with few good options. If only-

A slight glint caught the corner of her eye, and Yang turned to see one of the holographic M1 Astrays, half-destroyed on the edge of the forest area. Its left side was melted beyond repair, but the right side, including the arm, was more or less intact. What's more, as she approached it, Yang realized the Astray was a holographic variation of the Gunpla kit, and, in a stroke of luck, had the same connection port as the Duel Gundam arm she used.

She watched as Adam and Blake locked blades, the high output beam saber of the Wilting Spallow beginning to slowly cut through 00 Shia's sword bit Blake was still using.

Yang quickly detached the arm from the Astray and attached it to the Burning Echelon. Her hand returned to normal, feeling instantly renewed and without the numbness from before. All of that was good, but without her right gauntlet, Yang knew she was outgunned by Adam.

She searched around for some kind of weapon, and spotted the GN Sword V that Adam had knocked away from Blake. She rushed to grab it, picking it up and inspecting it quickly. No real damage; Shia was truly skilled with her craft.

Blake's cry caught her attention, and she turned to see that Adam had cleaved through the sword bit. Blake teleported behind him and tried to stab him with a beam saber she retrieved from the back of her hips, but Adam deflected it with ease.

Yang fired the GN Sword, using its gun mode to drive Adam off before throwing it to Blake. She caught it, but realized too late that her time in Trans-Am had been depleted, and the 00 Shia collapsed to its hands and knees. Adam rushed Yang and kicked her away, his shin connecting with her head, and sent her flying sideways, dazed. He panted, the toll of the fight being exacted upon him, before turning to Blake.

He approached her, the tip of his beam saber under her chin. "I admit...you surprised me. I had no idea you could have gotten this powerful. But it ends now."

He raised his right hand, blade grasped firmly in his grip, preparing to strike. Blake closed her eyes, glad she couldn't feel the damage he would inflict, but a sickening metallic thud resonated where he had once stood. She opened her eyes to see the Burning Echelon, Berserker mode still active, with its new M1 Astray fist landing cleanly against the Wilting Spallow's face. Adam went flying straight into a tree, his Gunpla crashing through its trunk and landing hard on the ground.

He looked up gingerly, seeing Yang standing next to Blake, new fist balled as she fell back into a fight stance. He was slow to his feet, hands empty now-he had dropped his weapons during the impact and now stood, defenseless.

"Give it up, Adam!" Blake pleaded. She was weary, saddened, and she didn't have the fight left in her to continue this. "Please! We don't want to do this!"

Adam was silent for a moment. His eyes flicked to one opponent, then the other, thinking.

He glanced to his right and saw his beam saber hilt. It was out of immediate reach, but if he could just get to it…

Fuel was low, and he couldn't rely on his little afterimage trick again after the power he had used during the fight. Blake was out of GN particles for now but was recharging, and Yang was panting, tired and wounded. There wasn't much fight left in any of them. All of their cockpits flared an angry red from their critical conditions.

Adam tensed up, which caused both women to react, tensing with him. His scabbard was much closer. A quick jump to the side and he could easily grab it.

Deciding it was a better option, he pushed off and moved to his left, tucking and rolling as he grabbed the weapon. He flicked his wrist and folded it into rifle mode, firing at Blake as she tried to catch him. The bolt pierced the 00 Shia's left side just above the front hip skirt, penetrating through the Gunpla and forcing her to staggering drop her GN Sword. He moved it back to its scabbard mode and turned to address Yang, who was closing in fast. He raised the weapon above his head as he boosted up, bringing it down like a giant cleaver, blade down right on her.

He expected to sheer straight through her, but instead he was surprised as her temporary arm caught the blow and pulled, bringing him into a left body blow that was amplified by the boosters on the back of her remaining gauntlet and the Shining Shot she fired at point-blank range. The impact sent Adam flying backward, crashing into the ground, as Yang panted harder. She winced in pain as a red mark formed on her palm from where the blade had dug into the Astray's hand, and she tossed the bladed scabbard away as her Berserker mode faded.

Adam slowly stood up, his machine groaning in protest. The Wilting Spallow was shaking, the strain of the battle wearing it down. He gripped his control orbs firmly to force the Gundam back to its feet.

Yang spotted his beam saber hilt lying near her, and saw that he had seen the GN Sword bear Blake, who was having trouble getting back to her feet as well. "Blake!" she called out, alerting her partner to the threat as Adam started running for her weapon. She decided to end this now, and ran at Adam's beam saber, picking it up as Blake got up and used what little GN particles she had regenerated to fly at her lost sword.

Adam reached for the blade, as did Blake, but the 00 Shia proved to be the faster of the two, and she grabbed the weapon and thrust upwards. The blue blade pierced the abdomen of the Wilting Spallow, just as the red katana-like beam saber of Adam's own blade struck him from behind as Yang buried it grip-deep into his chest.

He came to a stop, looking down at the brilliant red energy blade and the blue GN Sword impaling his suit. Weapon less, mortally damaged, and now out of energy, the Gundam Wilting Spallow collapsed onto the floor of the forest just outside the beach. Yang and Blake boosted away with some of the little power remaining as the Gunpla detonated, landing on the sands again.

Blake collapsed, sobbing as relief overtook her, but the battle still was going on, meaning one of their opponents was still alive.

Yang looked around, spotting the top half of the Bawoo Mirage, which had crawled its way towards its bottom half and was almost in place to recombine. Yang walked over to it as Emerald struggled in the soft, wet sand. The shadow of the Burning Echelon loomed over her as her money moved backward to see Yang, blotting out the sun. She reached back, her left hand glowing with angry intent, before she drove the flaming yellow fist straight into the back of the Bawoo, melting through its armor and destroying its core, shutting it down without a word.

"BATTLE OVER!"

The hologram faded, and with it, the M1 Astray arm. Yang looked across the table at the three opponents. Mercury had a look of frustration on his face, Emerald one of shock. But Adam, his face was seething hatred. His blue eyes shined with rage, and Yang met his gaze with solid, rebellious defiance.

Blake had begun to stand back up, tears in her eyes. She gave Yang and Sekai an appreciative look, and the younger boy grinned at her, before flipping his eyes to the opponents.

Adam circled the table and claimed what was left of his Gunpla, which was mostly in ruins now. He gazed upon it, his thoughts complicated. Emerald and Mercury did the same with theirs, exchanging glances as they watched him.

He finally turned and stared at Blake, snarling. "This isn't over," he said simply, before turning and walking out of the dojo without another word. His teammates followed him out, leaving the room quiet for a moment.

Shia, Fumina, and Yuuma approached Sekai. "Are you alright?" Fumina asked, concerned. She knew how much damage he could take from assimilation, and was just glad he was only scuffed up and not fully unconscious.

He nodded and gave her a thumb's up. "Yup! Just fine!"

Yang pulled Blake into a hug as she began to shake. She felt the will to defy Adam drain from her the moment the hug surrounded her, and she began to cling to Yang for dear life. Shia put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and Yang gave her a grateful nod. Raven could only watch, wondering what damage that man had inflicted on the poor girl.

Yang approaches her, a look of concern mixed with a renewed determination in her eyes. "Rav-mom, I need a favor. I need an Astray arm."

Raven gave her a quizzical look. "But why?"

"I need Ruby to help me build a new arm using it. One that will help me remember this fight. Yang looked down at the badly damaged Burning Echelon in her hands, "Adam was powerful. If Blake hadn't been here, It would have been a lot worse."

She glanced up at her mother again. "And I want to take something into a fight to remind me of my time here."

Raven pauses for a second, before smiling, feeling honored at her consideration. "I think I can manage that."

—

"What do you mean, you lost?!"

Roman paced in their penthouse, cane lightly tapping on the carpet as he walked, frustration mounting as he processed the accounts of what Emerald had just told him. Mercury was leaning against a wall, aggravated, avoiding eye contact with his boss. Adam hadn't said a word since they arrived. He simply turned the head of his destroyed Gunpla around between his fingertips, fidgeting with it as he thought about the fight.

Roman flipped his cane and turned to Adam, and raised his gaze up with the hook of the cane. "Care to enlighten me? I'm sponsoring you for the Battle Royals right before the main tournament. Is this what I have to show for it? You can't even beat a pair of amateurs?"

He pointed at the two he had sent with Adam. "THEY I can excuse. Sekai Kamiki has beaten some of the best and brightest up and comers in the world. I get he could take them out. But you? I'm paying good money and putting my operation on the line for you! Am I going to regret this?"

Adam looked him in the eyes with a harsh retort on his tongue, but kept quiet as a new figure entered the room behind Roman. "Don't be too hard on the boy, Roman," a seductive voice said. Emerald perked up immediately, standing up with joy on her face, "Cinder!"

Mercury rolled his eyes. "Ugh, get a room..."

Roman stood up straight and turned to address the newcomer. "Your little outfit requires my operation to work. Do you think the Gunpla Mafia just hands out donations to anyone wanting to take over the sport? It's not that easy, toots, and I do have investors to please."

Cinder smirked at his snarkiness, approaching him with a slow, graceful walk. "Please. Miss Salem already pegged these two, this Team Bumblebee, as a potentially dangerous duo. All of the teams sponsored by Ozpin are. It's why she's taken special precautions so he can't interfere with Team Godslayer's design."

She turned to Adam, regarding him with a fond smile. "Besides, he played his part well and helped us gather intel on the two of them. Our little mole in the Branwen Dojo recorded the entire fight. Plus, he wrecked both Shia Kijima's Gunpla, as well as Yang Xiao Long's, and Mercury did heavy damage to Sekai's Kamiki Burning Gundam. Those are three of the strongest in the tournament. If Adam can do that much damage in a two on one fight, then there's little doubt he's proved his worth."

Roman sighed and puffed on his cigar. "I suppose you have a point. And Neo should be coming back soon with the recording of Coco Adel versus that Penny girl from Canada."

"Exactly. Knowledge is more potent than any weapon in a Gunpla Battle. We have ourselves an opportunity to weaken them all right out of the gate. So fret not, Roman.

Cinder's smile grew more sly as her amber eye's glowed a dangerous glint. "All is as it should be…"

* * *

**SEKAI KAMIKI'S GUNPLA**

**Kamiki Burning Gundam**

Sekai's current primary Gunpla, the Kamiki Burning Gundam is a combination of his skills as a fighter and his desire to perfect the ultimate design for his needs. Created by his own hand (under the tutelage and watchful eye of Shia Kijima), the Kamiki Burning Gundam improves upon everything the Try Burning Gundam could do and takes it to the next level.

Shia managed to masterfully replicate the RG core system of the Try Burning Gundam, which was a creation of the Build Burning Gundam's builder, Sei Iori, who pioneered it with his Star Build Strike Gundam. Using the Try Burning as the foundation, she helped Sekai hone his building skills to be close to hers and Sekai's teammate Yuuma, and he used elements from a variety of machines to help create the perfect martial arts masterpiece Gunpla.

The Kamiki Burning Gundam is simple in its premise but complex in execution. It features very limited ranged abilities, the most prominent being a disguised beam cannon on the left shoulder where the black circle with the "Kami" sign resides. While assimilated, a raging circular pattern of fire appears from his back, and with it, Sekai can fire up to six fireballs. Other than this, the only weapon the Gunpla has is a katana-like longsword that can emit fire for potent, plastic-melting strikes, and Sekai's own Jigen Haoh School of Martial Arts.

* * *

**ADAM TAURUS**

**Age: 19**

**Hometown: Orlando, Florida**

**Height: 6'3"**

**Eyes: blue**

**Hair: Red**

Adam is a harsh and arrogant individual. One look from him and most can tell that he has high aspirations for himself, and does not like failure. Coming from a poverty-stricken family and clawing his way through society to a reputable status, he believes that he is entitled to compensation for the hardships he has endured, and will try and take that which is not freely given.

He and Blake shared a rocky relationship for several years. Originally enamored by his good looks and confidence, Blake found herself manipulated and used by him. She finally ended the relationship when he struck her for hanging out with someone without telling him; he thought it was another man, but it was actually Yang, who had been giving her the support she needed to leave him.

Adam is exceptionally skilled in Gunpla Battle and favors high-speed engagements. He tends to shred enemies quickly when they misjudge his movements and actions and is exceptionally lethal in a one on one fight.

**ADAM'S GUNPLA**

**Gundam Wilting Spallow**

Designed using the Gundam AGE-1 Spallow as a basis, and using custom made parts reminiscent of the AGE-1 Razor and Swordia, the Wilting Spallow is an extreme speed, high mobility mobile suit meant to end fights in one clean strike. To aid this, he has created a specialized focusing mask that covers the eyes of the Gunpla. He was forced to streamline the V-fin, slicking it back like what one would find on an Astray or Windam, to allow it to attach to the face.

Adam uses a high output beam saber whose blade focuses on a katana shape when active. This weapon, which is his main method of attack, is refined enough to even cut through other beam savers, slash through-beam shots, and pierce energy shields if stabbed directly into it.

His main ranged weapon is a specialized beam rifle that folds over the hand of the Gunpla to form a large scabbard-like device. Due to the strain, the beam saber puts on his Gunpla's energy levels, he conserves power by constantly keeping it deactivated and docked with the back end of the beam rifle, drawing it swiftly to deal extensive damage while maintaining optimal energy levels. The scabbard also features a physical blade made out of the AGE-1 Spallow's sword blade, allowing him to swing it to defend attacks or cut into enemy Gunpla if need be.

Besides these main weapons, the Wilting Spallow also features the knee-mounted needle guns found on the standard AGE-1 Spallow and Vulcan machine guns on its head. It's most deadly feature, however, is the high-speed metal peeling afterimage effect normally associated with the Gundam F91, which allows him to use his amazing speed to create intangible copies of himself to confuse opponents and give him an even greater speed boost. Like the Gundam F91, three radiator fins are stored in the shoulders of the Wilting Spallow to aid in this.

* * *

**ROMAN TORCHWICK**

**Age: 34**

**Hometown: Manhattan, New York**

**Height: 6'2"**

**Hair: fiery orange**

**Eyes: green**

A con man turned business mogul turned underworld kingpin, Roman Torchwick is a genius at the art of the deal and is both smart and sly with his arrangements. He went from small-time crook to criminal overlord in a meteoric rise to power through subtle manipulations of various organizations and maintains a tight and firm grip on several key aspects of various black market and criminal activities.

One such area is the Gunpla Mafia. Disorganized after the arrest of their previous leader and founder, Mikio Mashita, Roman led many former agents back to the fold with promises he managed to make good on early on. Proving his commitment, he was nearly unanimously appointed leader of the revived group, who has become active as of last year once again.

Despite his disinterest in Gunpla in general, Roman sees a tidy profit on cornering a powerful market and has allied himself with Salem Autry in hopes he can gain spoils from aiding in her plan.

* * *

**MERCURY BLACK**

**Age: 24**

**Hometown: Reno, Nevada**

**Height: 6'1"**

**Hair: Grey**

**Eyes: Dark Grey**

Arrogant, antagonistic, and seemingly lazy and laid back, Mercury is a rather skilled but immature guard dog for Roman Torchwick, the current head of the resurgent Gunpla Mafia. Used mainly as an enforcer both in and out of Gunpla Battle, Merc favors a straightforward approach and enjoys engaging in fights he knows he has a good chance of winning at, finding delight in torturing foes.

He fancies himself a skilled pilot and models both his Gunpla and his obsession with fighting to jazz after Io Fleming of Gundam Thunderbolt, seeing him as something of an idol.

**GUNPLA**

**Gundam Vidar Black Thunder**

A hybrid of the Gundam Vidar and Kiramis Vidar, with several customized armor pieces and a unique backpack, the Vidar Black Thunder is a fast and agile machine loaded with heavy defensive properties and a series of powerful weapons. While Mercury has limited himself in close combat to relying on the flip-out knives mounted on the Vidar's feet, he is an expert in martial arts and has learned to use his agility to his advantage with devastating kicks. Replacing the hip-mounted scabbards that would normally resupply the Vidar's rapiers with thrusters not dissimilar to the Gundam Astaroth's, he has no other melee weapons aside from his feet.

For range, however, he has several options. A pair of Vidar rifles are mounted to the shield on his right arm, similar to the Gundam Thunderbolt's twin beam rifle, and he has a potent artillery cannon and eight-pack missile pod on his back. He kept the Kiramis Vidar's back sub arms with custom made larger shields, with a pair of shields on each of its main arms. These four shields help cover Mercury so he can lash out with a flurry of kicks. Each shield is covered in heavy anti-beam coating for added resistance, and are made with extra layers of plastic to reinforce their structure, making them impressively impervious to even the most powerful kinetic strikes.

* * *

**EMERALD SUSTRAI**

**Age: 23**

**Born: Agra, India**

**Raised: Miami, Florida**

**Height: 5'6"**

**Eyes: Red**

**Hair: black (Dyed green)**

Typically seen as a serious and easily annoyed counterpart to the far more laid back Mercury, Emerald is one of Roman Torchwick's main enforcers. She worked her way into his good graces first by stealing from him, then by proving herself to him that she was valuable once he had caught her. She finds a particular bit of pride in managing to pull a fast one on her boss.

A skilled pickpocket and convincing liar, Emerald is more at home duping victims than participating in Gunpla battles. However, with the Gunpla Mafia being one of several schemes Roman runs, she has become a rather adept master of deception even in the field of battle. While Mercury prefers more direct methods in life, Emerald toys with people like a cat toy with its prey and finds it fulfilling to lure them into her trap in any number of ways. She's not easily thrown off her game and will do whatever is needed to succeed once she has her mark.

**EMERALD'S GUNPLA**

**Bawoo Mirage**

Favoring the crafty separation and dual strike attacks of using the top and bottom flyers (Bawoo Attacker and Bawoo Nutter, respectively) of the Bawoo, Emerald has customized her machine to act as a perfect aerial support mech to Mercury. Equipped with the Mirage Colloid system found on the Blitz Gundam of Gundam SEED, Emerald can cloak one or both halves of the Bawoo Mirage to double team opponents, distracting them and weakening their defenses while Mercury closes in for the kill. However, Mirage Colloid particles disintegrate in water or other liquids.

While the Bawoo Mirage's armaments are, for the most part, standard, Emerald has mounted a beam saber into the rifle in much the same way the Zeta Gundam has one on his beam rifle. Using it like a bayonet affords her reach and extra options in close range combat. She has also modified the machine to transform its top half even when not connected to the bottom flyer, letting her grab things or throw out a beam saber attack while the bottom flyer circles around for another pass. It's armed with a pair of beam sabers, a beam rifle with a beam saber bayonet, two four-tube grenade launchers, six missiles, a pit of Vulcans in its chest, and a pair of beam cannons on the lower half that were used while flying in a separated form. Emerald does have both the standard five-barrel mega partial cannon shield and a standard shield with micro missiles she can choose from, depending on the foe.


	21. The First Day

**AN: Hello, everyone! Alpha here. The tournament is now upon us, and I can easily say that this was one of the more challenging chapters to write. With so many characters to use and show off-and several that haven't been fully introduced, including some fan favorites, I struggled to figure out how to do it.**

**Ultimately, I decided to do this chapter into several small short stories that are all taking place within the time frame of about an hour or so. This let me jump around and have some small interactions, covering multiple scenarios all at once. **

**The next chapter is the first battle, featuring my editor Kyrus's two main OCs from other RWBY fan projects that I've injected into this story. I had a lot of fun writing them, as Kyrus has just as much fun editing their lines, so I'm looking forward to showcasing them.**

**But that will have to wait until the next chapter. For now, enjoy this one!**

* * *

Kyrus sat, watching as his sister gently sanded the last little detail of her Barbatos Lupus. She had a knack for Gunpla building that he lacked, a finesse he admired and appreciated. Thanks to her skills at crafting the Gunpla and his piloting it, Kyrus had been crowned Australian National Champion three times and had come so close twice to winning the World Championship.

He looked down at his Gunpla, the Unicorn Gundam Chimera, and thought. This machine had taken him so far, and he hated the idea of retiring it, but this Doubles Tournament was going to be its last voyage in the public eye. He had higher aspirations and a new idea that Io and he had managed to think of.

"Brooding?"

His sister's voice tore him from his thoughts, and he turned and looked at her with a smile. "Hardly. Just reminiscing. Thinking about all the good times I've had with Chimera."

"That's the same thing," Io replied, never taking her eyes off her work. "It's not like we're selling it to a junk dealer. You'll always have it to fall back on."

The man let out a deep sigh before setting Chimera down on the coffee table. "I suppose you're right." A glint flashed in his golden eyes as an excited smile crept across his face. "I'm getting restless, Io. This Doubles tournament is going to be the most fun I've had in a while."

"Aren't you a little old to fight with kids?" Her eyes flicked up to give him a stern glance. "Aside from a few, you'll probably tear through them."

Kyrus sat back on his couch. "The winning team gets to fight in the World Championship Battle Royale. If they can't keep up with me, they won't take on Ricardo or the Meijin. Hell, I heard rumors that Sei Iori is coming back."

"You're already in the Battle Royale, though. I don't see a point in this."

Kyrus grinned excitedly. "For the sheer joy of it! Why else do you play Gunpla?"

Before she could respond, a knock at the door interrupted them. Kyrus and Io shared a look, both of them confused. Neither of them was expecting company.

Kyrus pulled himself up and headed for the door, opening it to a familiar face. He beamed as he noticed Ricardo Fellini, standing with his usual relaxed and laid back expression across his face. "Well, well, well. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes! What brings the World Champ here to visit a lowly commoner such as I?"

Ricardo smirked and put a hand on his hip. "Sarcastic as ever, _Mio Amico_," Ricardo replied. "We didn't have a chance to catch up at the party. Figured no was a better time than any."

Kyrus stood aside and welcomed Ricardo in with an exaggerated gesture, who rolled his amusement eyes. He greeted Io, who merely raised her hand for a moment before returning to her work.

"Forgive my little sister- You know how antisocial she gets in front of other people."

"Piss off."

Ricardo couldn't help but chuckle. "Ah, you two are always so fun." He crossed their room and plopped into one of the chairs, watching as Kyrus went to the small fridge to grab some beverages. "So, the Doubles tournament, huh?"

Kyrus shrugged as he pulled out some beverages for his guest. "Figured I could use a warm-up. All the participants seemed worth the hassle," He passed Ricardo his soda, with the former taking it with a grateful smile. "I've watched the recorded footage of their fights. They all got some promise."

Ricardo nodded, taking a sip with a faint smile as he enjoyed the refreshing taste. He recalled how powerful and skilled kids younger than some of the Doubles Tournament were when he entered the Seventh World Championship. Kids like the Meijin, Mao Yasaka, and Sei Iori.

And Reiji.

"Don't underestimate them just 'cause they're kids," he warned playfully. "Remember that I got my butt kicked by a couple of them a few times over the years."

Kyrus chuckled. "I remember watching that live. Io scolded me for how much I was laughing"

"Very funny," Ricardo shook his head but couldn't help chuckling with him. His rival's charismatic bluster was almost contagious. "So, you ready? The first round starts at one today."

Kyrus hummed in thought as he took a swig. "After this doubles tournament, I'm retiring Chimera. I'm hoping for an exhilarating fight-maybe against Pyrrha Nikos or that giant from Team Godslayer. I don't care; I just want to feel the thrill of the fight." His grin broadened with excitement. "And once the World Tournament comes round, I'll unleash Io's newest masterpiece for everyone to see."

His focus shifted back to Ricardo with a playful glare. "Then, I'm coming for that crown of yours, Fellini."

Io sighed and set her tools down, packing her Barbatos Lupus into its carrying case. "Oh. We're doing this again. Lovely."

Ricardo laughed. He didn't show it, but Kyrus' challenge got him pumped up for the world tournament all over again. Ricardo had no idea what this masterpiece was, but knowing Io, It's bound to turn some heads. As the Italian champ finished his drink, he stood up and gestured for Kyrus to follow. "Come on. Let's go mingle with the competition."

"By all means, lead on." The Alexander siblings tailed Ricardo as they left the room. The champion could feel the energy coming from Kyrus. It only reaffirmed him that this was going to be a fairly exciting tournament.

* * *

"_Sacre bleu!" _Jaune cried out as he and Pyrrha entered the stadium. "This is...amazing!"

Pyrrha smiled at her boyfriend's star-struck expression. Jaune was instead taken aback by the sight of so many participants. While many of them were going to be fighting in the Doubles Tournament, there was a large number that likely was either technical advisors, backup pilots, builders, and sponsors, or was competing in the World Championship and merely wished to mingle with those in the Doubles.

He spotted several key players, including Coco, standing to the side being interviewed by Mirai Kamiki, who Jaune had seen on television as its main face. Velvet was nearby, taking their pictures with a smile on her face.

He noticed a man who sent chills down his spine. He was quite a pale man, with a dark brown ponytail braided to resemble a scorpion's tail. He had an almost unhinged smile on his face as his golden orbs scanned the stadium as if locating his next prey.

"Hey, why don't we try and find Nora and Ren and the others?" Pyrrha suggested, drawing Jaune's attention back to her. "We might not get a chance until the end of the day to hang out with them."

"Good idea." Jaune took her hand and began leading them deeper into the masses. Pyrrha blushed from the gesture, still not used to the public display, but enjoying it nonetheless.

Fortunately, they didn't have far to look. It was hard to miss the boisterous and hearty laugh; Yang let out when she thought something was funny. She and Blake were with Ruby and Team Try Fighters and two other boys about their age. Yuuma Kousaka and one of the newcomers seemed to be in a hot debate.

"Oh man, you guys are really into it, huh?" Yang asked. "Who are these guys?"

Jaune looked the two over. One of the newcomers was bald, with a giant grin and his hands shoved into his blue hoodie with a casual look. The other, a brown-haired boy with a massive ego and a cocky smirk, simply shrugged at the question.

"You are looking at two of the best builders in the world, Blondie," the brown-haired boy said. "Name's Minato Sakai, and this is my partner Sansoro Sato. We're Team Shingyo, the best builders you're going to see here, from the Shingyo School of Gunpla Building." He shot a look at Yuuma. "I was just telling Yuuma here that he should just quit now, 'cause his Gunpla isn't going even to make it past the first round."

"I think you forgot who won the last Meijin Cup we were in, Minato," Yuuma shot back. "You can keep telling yourself whatever you want, but Fumina and I will beat you, with or without Sekai on our team."

He waved Yuuma off dismissively. "You say that, but since he wins all your battles for you, I doubt you'll even make a dent in your first opponents."

Sansoro slumped next to Minato, looked up at him with a lazy and amused expression. "Hey, hey, maybe they will. I mean, he did blow up Gundam Tryon III when you were on the Build Breakers last year, and that was, like your best kit."

Minato stamped his foot down angrily as he turned at his partner. "Hey, who's side are you on?! And it was Build Busters, and he didn't beat me by himself!"

Sansoro shrugged and turned to walk off. "Whatever you say. But he did bust the Busters…"

Yang let out another laugh. "Wow, I like this guy."

Minato growled, before turning back at Yuuma. "You better not embarrass yourself before I get the chance, Yuuma." He then turned to Fumina, his expression softening and a charming smile crossing his face. "Then, maybe, afterward, you and I can go grab lunch or something, Fumina."

She shook her head, not sure whether to laugh or be angry at Minato's continued persistence. "I appreciate it, but I think I'll pass…"

"Just think about it, and get back to me." He turned and followed Sansoro, causing Yuuma to sigh as he left their presence.

"Friends of yours?" Jaune asked, curious.

Fumina laughed nervously, trying to find a way to explain without sounding overly mean. "Kind of…"

Yuuma shook his head. "No. Minato is constantly trying to outdo me in the Gunpla building. We have been competing for years to see who was the best builder. The Shingyo Gunpla School is one of the most famous places to learn model building, and the techniques used to create Gunpla are second to none. But, while I don't care much about competing with Minato specifically, he makes it a point to make everything a contest. It's annoying."

"So, you guys ready?" Ruby asked cheerfully, changing the subject. "The lot of drawing starts soon."

Pyrrha nodded excitedly. "It's been a long time since I've been on a public stage like this. I'm looking forward to this."

"Yeah, and Pyrrha even helped me build a new Gunpla for the tournament," Jaune added, removing the small black case from his belt and giving it to Ruby to look at. "I'm excited to see how it'll perform."

Ruby opened the case up and gently pulled out the new model. She blinked at the design; Pyrrha and Jaune had combined the RX-78-6 Gundam Mudrock with the RX-78-7 Full Armor Gundam 7th in its overall concept, though many parts seemed inspired by the kits otherwise were custom built. The heavy armor was offset by leg armor featuring large thrusters inspired by the Blu Duel Gundam that Jaune used for his last Gunpla, and the head was the same Pale Rider one found on the Duel Cavalier Pale, with the GM Sniper II visor. It was still painted in grey, white, and gold.

"Whoa...talk about heavy support," she said as she turned it over. It had both of Mudrock's beam cannons on its backpack, the Gundam 7th's beam rifle and shield, and she noted that Jaune had kept the Pale Rider's beam guns on its wrists for added close-range defensive fire. "It's even more impressive than the last one."

"Especially since it's not a kitbash. Well, not fully." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. One of the biggest things he wanted to do was make his Gunpla, not connect parts from kits together as the Duel Cavalier Pale had been.

This new Gunpla had numerous modifications to all the parts and many unique pieces to connect everything fluidly and keep it unobstructed in movement. Jaune was happy with how it came out and was grateful for Pyrrha's tutelage.

Pyrrha smiled happily at the Gunpla as Ruby returned it to its case. "He worked very hard on it over the last week. I heard that Nora added some additional things to Gusion Rebake Magnhild, and I believe Ren was convinced to use some kind of beam pistols on the Gundam Lotus Dragon."

"Yeah, he modified a few weapons from Gundam Pixie to use with his Gunpla," Weiss said. "He wanted to give himself greater range options, and Gundam Pixie's guns also have beam daggers attached to them, so that'll be a bonus."

Yuuma had looked over the construction of the new Gunpla Jaune had made, and as Jaune took the case back, he turned to him. "Does it have a name?"

Jaune blushed, now even more embarrassed. "Um...I couldn't think of one. So, I just call it Chevalier Blanc. It means White Knight in French."

Fumina smiled. "I like it. It's not going to be an easy target to take down. You put a lot of work into that armor."

Ruby perked up and reached into her pocket. "Oh! Yang, here!"

Her sister turned to her as she held out a flash drive. Confused, Yang casually took it. "What's this?"

"That's the new parts for your Gunpla. Just plug them into a 3D printer, and you can make replacement parts." Ruby looked at the flash drive in thought. "Once the tournament starts, we're enemies. I can't help you fix your Gunpla, but that drive will give you all the tools and pieces you'll need to fix it yourself, from the ground up, if need be. You'll need to do the detailing, but otherwise, you're all set."

Yang looked at the drive, concern creasing her brow. "But...I've only ever built specific parts from Shining, God, and Duel Gundams, and Nobell's head. I've never even finished a Gunpla that wasn't Burning Echelon. I don't know if I can-"

"Yang, you can do this." Ruby smiled at her big sister. "If you can build one part, you can build any part! And I simplified the design, but I included more complex variations for you to try out that'll greatly improve performance. You got this."

"I can help with the detailing," Blake offered. "Don't worry."

Yang closed her fist around the flash drive and nodded. "Okay. Thanks. I appreciate it."

"So, you built a new Gunpla too?" Fumina asked. "Was Burning Echelon not good enough?"

Yang shook her head. "No. I had another Gunpla in the works for a while, but I didn't know what it lacked until I fought Sekai and Adam. But after the fight with Adam, Ruby helped me realize the pieces I needed to make it functional." She grinned and kissed the fist that held the flash drive. "Now, this thing'll be one of the strongest Gunplas in the tournament, mark my words, and I can knock Sekai's block off for real!"

"That'll be a sight to see," Yuuma admitted. "I think he could use a little humility beaten into him. Maybe you'll be the one to do it."

"C'mon, let's head for the stage," Pyrrha suggested. "We still have a bit, but more of the contestants will be over there. Nora and Ren might be there too."

Nora was grinning like a maniac as she glanced around at the many people before her. The energy was electrifying; many of these people she had met during the dinner party a few days ago, but now, here, they were all about to get into one of the biggest tournaments in the world of Gunpla.

She saw so many familiar faces, but she hadn't paid enough attention to remember their names.

Her excitement turned to almost evil intent as she thought about how good their Gunpla would sound being crushed by Gusion Magnhild's giant Warhammer. She rubbed her hands together excitedly as she told herself that nobody would even lay a scratch on her brilliant pink paint job and that she and Ren would take this tournament, no problem.

She looked at her boyfriend, who seemed to be meditating as he leaned against the stage, arms crossed and deep in thought. "Hey Ren, you think we're gonna have to fight Pyrrha and Jaune or any of the others?"

He nodded slightly. "It's possible."

"Well, I say bring 'em all on! I'll pancake all of them!" She defiantly raised her fist and grinned. She paused for a moment before turning to Ren. "You think we can get some actual pancakes after this?"

Ren sighed but didn't open his eyes. "I suppose."

"Yes!" She jumped and cried out happily, wrapping her arms around Ren and pulling off balance and a joyful kiss. He blinked in surprise, but couldn't help but let out a low chuckle at her enthusiasm.

"You seem confident."

A deep voice spoke from behind them, and both Ren and Nora looked up to see a giant, muscle-bound man looking down on them. His thick German accent colored his words as he spoke, and his gentle, passive eyes flicked from one teen to the other as he appraised them. "I'm Hazel. A pleasure."

Nora grinned. "Wow, you're huge!"

"Nora, be respectful," Ren said passively. "My name is Lie Ren. This is my girlfriend and partner, Nora Valkyrie."

Nora gave Hazel a casual smile. "Sup?"

Hazel chuckled at the teens. "I assume you are members of the Doubles Tournament?"

"Yup! We're Team Flower Power!" Nora pounded her chest proudly, standing tall while beaming.

Hazel raised an eyebrow at Ren, who merely shrugged. "My Gunpla is the Gundam Lotus Dragon. I couldn't think of a better name. So we went with it."

"I see. It's good to see the next generation taking such an interest in this sport."

An uneasy silence fell over them. Nora glanced between her boyfriend and the newcomer, before blurting out, "So! You participate in the Doubles or the World Championship?"

"The Doubles matches, under Team Godslayer," Hazel replied. "So, we might end up fighting soon."

Nora gave him a confident grin. "Oh, you better believe it! I'm going to break the legs of anyone who gets in our way!"

He nodded to the two of them, a small smile on his face. He glanced up behind them, catching sight of Watts waving him over. "I must go get ready. Good luck."

"You, as well," Ren said, bowing respectfully as Hazel walked away.

Nora waited for him to get out of earshot before leaning over to Ren. "Who was that? He left so fast."

"The German National Champion," Ren replied. "He's not a big talker."

Nora lit up. "What?! Why didn't you tell me! I wanted his autograph!"

"There'll be plenty of time to collect autographs, Nora. Think about today. There are a lot of people here, all of them challenging. We need to focus on getting-"

"Getting their autographs, right? We can take them out once we have swag!" Nora grinned again.

Ren sighed. "No, Nora. Focus on getting to the second round."

"And then, autographs?" She asked, hopefully.

Ren closed his eyes and nodded with a slight smile. "Yes. And then, autographs."

"_Ja!" _She jumped up happily with her fists in the air. "Watch out, world, Flower Power's coming for ya!"

* * *

Ozpin looked over the tournament bracket for the first round one last time on his tablet. With Arkos, White Rose, Bumblebee, and Flower Power all registered and being sponsored by him or Glynda, the chances of managing to knock Team Godslayer out of the fight was high.

Still, what he had learned about Godslayer didn't put his mind at ease. They had redundant members of their team; of one, Gunpla was too severely damaged, so one of the other members could step in. Hazel Rainart and a man named Tyrian Callows were their starting lineup, but they also had Arthur Watts registered as a backup and Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai.

Qrow and Mister Ral each sat on a couch provided to the booth overlooking the tournament floor. Qrow had gathered intel on all of the participants, but Ozpin was only focused on Godslayer.

The two were quiet as he read, glancing at each other expectantly. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Ozpin spoke.

"An interesting assortment of players." He closed the bracket. "Run me by what you have found thus far."

Qrow sighed heavily as he collected his thoughts. "Well, Hazel's the heavy hitter of the team. The German Champ, ex-professional wrestler until he had a career-ending injury, cashed in on his popularity by jumping into Gunpla Battle. He uses a custom Bolt Gundam mixed with some AGE-1 Titus parts, perfect for grappling opponents.

"Cinder Fall, real name Cynthia Fallen, until she legally changed it. Likes using psycommu system suits like the Qubeley and stuff. Pretty much a clean slate. She's gained popularity very quickly and is seen as a favorite for winning the World Championship this year. Aside from some notes of her being a bit sadistic in battle, there's not much there.

"Next, you got Arthur Watts. He's serving as the repair guy and technical advisor for Godslayer. I worked for PPSE for about nine years before parting, though I don't know why he left. His records are spotless."

"I feel like I see a pattern," Ral said as Qrow paused to take a whiskey sip.

"Yeah. Mercury Black's also clean. Ex security guard, though he seems to have dabbed in some MMA fighting for a minor circuit in the states. He just kind of dropped off the grid a few years ago. Blake and Yang had a run-in with him and Emerald yesterday with Blake's ex. They told me he used a Gundam Vidar mixed with Kiramis Vidar and had a Full Armor Thunderbolt Gundam motif. Sekai Kamiki took him and Emerald down in a two v one fight.

"Interestingly, his partner Emerald _does _have a record. She was arrested, ironically, by Mercury for petty theft and shoplifting. Now, she's for some reason working with him. She likes a custom Bawoo with a Mirage Colloid system. But other than that, I couldn't find a trace on her."

"And what about Tyrian Callows?" Ozpin looked up at Qrow. "You have nothing here on him."

"That's because he doesn't exist," Qrow responded with a shrug. "No birth certificate, no registered address, no browser history, nothing. I'm guessing it's an alias or something, but even facial recognition came up with nada. He's not in the system at all."

Ral shook his head. "I'm afraid I've never seen him in the Gunpla community, either. I can put out feelers, see if some of my old associates know of him, but…"

"No, don't bother," Ozpin said. "It's in all likelihood that you won't find him on any database. At least, not here on Earth."

Ral perked up. "You mean, he might be from Arian?"

Qrow closed his eyes, relieved that it wasn't a failure on his part. "Well, that would explain it, all right."

"I cannot be completely sure, though." Ozpin thought back to a council meeting he had had. "Several years ago, a provocateur was going by the name of Scorpius. We later found out that his name was Tyrion, though we never had a photo ID of him."

He looked at Tyrian Callows' registration photograph. "Considering Scorpius's primary preaching point of continuing to avoid contact with Earth, it would make sense that Tyrion-or Tyrian Callows here, depending on which spelling you want to go with-would gravitate towards an anti-Earth reunification supporter such as Salem Autry."

Ral sat forward and watched Ozpin. "You never told us why Arian chose not to repair their communication array or expose themselves to be found by Earth. Wouldn't it have been easier to get help? And why are they so opposed to the idea?"

Ozpin sighed. "Perhaps. To be honest, though, as I stated before, the colonists knew help from Earth would be unlikely, even in the best scenarios. Being years away from the planet meant that assistance was unlikely. As for why they chose to hide, that was more a matter of necessity. The ship had a weakened section of the hull that was getting bombarded with cosmic radiation. The longer it stayed on the sunny side of Mars, the more health issues cropped up in workers on that section of the ship. Hiding behind the planet helped curb health issues.

"Since the comm array was repaired for short-range communication-namely surface stations like water collectors and solar battery chargers, Arian-talk began to re-establish contact with Earth, but it was ultimately deemed a waste of resources since it was too far to send any ship. And since our settlement from Earth's eyes failed, earth focused on colonizing the Moon instead and mostly left Mars alone besides rovers. We were self-sufficient and didn't need to contact you until the Mashitas, and Prince Reiji all came down. Once we realized the Arista crystals could bridge the gap, we thought it best to consider contacting you to avoid accidental incidents. Sadly, we were indecisive enough to not notice or stop Salem from leaving, and I've been trying to figure out her plan ever since. Until now."

"She made it pretty obvious," Qrow noted. "So, what do we do?"

"There's nothing we can do." Ozpin looked down at Tyrian, studying him as he studied the contestants. There was an eager, almost maniacal excitement in his eyes. It made Ozpin uneasy.

"For now, we hope Ruby and her friends, and all of the others in the tournaments, are strong enough to knock Godslayer out of the running. And if they don't, we hope someone can at least stop Cinder in the World Championship."

"Steep odds. Not sure I like it." Qrow sipped his drink again. "Then again, I'm not sure I like anything you told us."

"That's the price of knowledge, I'm afraid." Ozpin turned to face the two. "Fortunately, with the Gunpla Referees now informed, we can hopefully nip any issues in the bud."

Ral looked down at the gathering contestants. "It's up to them now. With luck, we won't have to rely on them…"

* * *

Weiss felt a certain unease as her older sister overlooked Gyan Noblesse Oblige. Winter was known for being exceptionally critical of things she didn't perceive as "perfect." For the longest time, Weiss had refrained from showing her the Gunpla out of worry.

"Hmmm… a strong and consistent modification of the Gyan Kreiger," Winter noted, turning it over in her hand gently. "Exceptional detail...though I feel the left wrist is slightly loose."

"That is by design, to help with a more fluid range of motion while fighting," Weiss explained. "I figured, since I'm left-handed, it would make sense to use the saber in the left hand."

Winter judged Weiss's reasoning silently, which only rang louder in the younger Schnee's mind, but she said nothing about it. "The Sleeves motif seems unnecessary, but it is an excellent quality of craftsmanship. I am curious about the choice of metallic baby blue for the emblems' color, rather than the traditional white or gold."

"Personal preference." She smiled happily, knowing that Winter, too, liked the more elegant look of Sleeves Gunpla.

"Interesting. And the newly modified rapier you designed for it, and customized rose-themed Sazabi bits?"

Weiss beamed. "I like the versatility the bits afford me, and after watching Ricardo Fellini fight as many times as I have, I became inspired to try and make my weapon that was somewhat based on his beam saber. However, knowing many of the machines here might feature anti-beam coating, I opted for a more traditional weapon. I used the G-Xiphos's melee weapon as the base. I call it Myrtenaster. It's fully functional as a beam firing weapon, featuring a beam pistol modified into the sword and a thin barrel running the dagger's length."

"How inspired," Winter replied dispassionately, handing the Gyan back to Weiss. "You've given this a lot of thought. Although, I am curious as to why you've obsessed over Ricardo Fellini."

Weiss couldn't help but scoff and roll her eyes. "It's not me who is obsessing. It's Ruby. I just happen to get sucked into her ridiculousness and am forced to watch her as she drools over his fights. I figured I might as well make something useful to come out of this."

Winter, in an uncharacteristic and exceedingly rare move, chuckled slightly, though she composed herself quickly.

"So, Winter, you and Wilfrid seemed to get along pretty well…"

Winter shot a harsh glare at her younger sister, who simply smiled innocently in return. "Wilfrid Kijima is five years younger than me. I can't believe you'd insinuate-"

"I didn't insinuate, dear sister," Weiss teases, "I merely pointed out that he's a pretty handsome man with a high-class pedigree and lofty ambitions."

Winter scoffed. "He's closer to your age than mine. If you find him so attractive, perhaps you should date him."

Weiss shrugged. "A twenty-year-old dating a seventeen-year-old high school student? Oh, Father would have a hissy fit. Think of the scandal!"

Winter smirked slightly. "Only if you get caught." She glanced across the room, spotting Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Yang talking near a vendor stand. "Besides, I could think of worse people to invest your energy on."

Weiss gave her a puzzled look before tracing her eyes to Jaune. A heavy blush spread across her porcelain features. "Please! Jaune was heavily infatuated before, but he has Pyrrha, now!"

"And yet-"

Weiss stamped her foot down. "If you finish that sentence, I might have to disown you, dear sister."

Winter avoided her gaze, looking slyly ahead, as If the poster advertising the tournaments was more interesting to see. "If you say so."

Weiss loved her older sibling very much, but times like these made her question the "serious ice queen" demeanor she was known for. Few people saw Winter's more mischievous side. Fewer still were victims to it.

"You should go meet your partner," Winter said, shocking Weiss out of her thoughts. "The Tournament bracket lots will be drawn soon, and I need to find Captain Ironwood and Commander Fynn." She turned and offered her hand, which Weiss accepted. "Good luck, Weiss. You may need it."

Weiss's competitive edge came out in her confident smile. "I was about to say the same thing to you."

* * *

"The stage is set."

Watts' voice pulled Salem's attention away from the amassing candidates. She turned and faced the mustached man sitting on the couch. Cinder was standing behind him, watching the provided television. The news coverage of the event was being streamed worldwide, with many sport and esport networks covering it.

Amanita Peach and Peter Port, the English country announcers, mostly targeting North American audiences, discussed the favorites and the exciting matchups that could be pulled out of the lottery system today. Cinder watched, pondering.

"Ozpin has four different teams entered in this tournament," she noted. "Seems like he doesn't trust just one to get the job done."

"Oz has always been the one to air on the side of caution," Salem replied, "but besides Pyrrha Nikos, I don't see any of the others who could stand to us." She turned to Watts. "You're certain everything is in place?"

"There's no doubt." Watts nodded reassuringly, holding a tablet in hand. "I programmed the Battle System for PPSE. I left a back door into the system specifically for uses like this. And, it helps that every fight in the tournament is randomized for the Doubles tournament. The World Championship, however, is another matter. We'll have to rely on Cinder's skill alone."

"That won't be a problem," Cinder replied confidently.

Salem took in the information. It was just as Watts had suggested. Getting the controller to change the Doubles tournament format was easy; it was the first of its kind, and the rules were ill-defined. The World Championship would be watched like a hawk, so they'd need to win the old fashioned way.

Watts gave Salem a suspicious look. "You look troubled."

"Not troubled," Salem answered, turning back to their press box window, "thoughtful. As long as we control the system, we control who wins. It's just surprising that Ozpin's waited this long and hasn't done anything."

"He has nothing on us," Cinder said without turning to face her.

"She's right, you know. And even if he did, he cannot make a legal move against us without evidence." Watts smirked. "And that gives us the edge. Even if we get caught, the back door has a failsafe that will destroy that code line before anyone finds it. I've taken every digital footprint precaution. Without proof, the most he could do is launch a baseless accusation."

"Be careful not to let your arrogance cloud your abilities, Arthur," Salem warned. "Greater men let their pride spell their doom. You should remember that."

Watts was silent for a moment before nodding. "Of course. The fact remains, though-if we get to at least the third round, Tyrian and Hazel can finish off the rest."

"I hope you're right." Salem inhaled slowly and exhaled as the fighters began lining up to pull lots from a machine. A smile crept across her face in anticipation. "Get ready to work your magic."

"With pleasure," Watts responded, beginning to type on his tablet with increased enthusiasm.

* * *

Ruby and Weiss felt lost in a sea of humanity. The mass of people swallowed up blake, Yang, and the others as they entered the main stage, and the two had to hold hands to keep from being separated. They were also too short to see anyone, which Weiss had refused to admit, but the fact was undeniable.

They noticed many of the people they hadn't met yet mixed with those they had. Ciel and Penny were standing to their far-right. The big guy, Hazel, was like a mountain towering above the others. Kyrus Alexander and a girl they hadn't seen before were to their right. Fumina was glaring at Shia and Sekai, who were near the front, and Hathaway and his blind partner Jim were with four girls, though Ruby struggled to remember their names from when Coco introduced them the party.

Weiss gently hit Ruby's arm and pointed to their left, where Blake and Yang stood, talking with a pair of fighters they hadn't yet seen before.

"Those two are from Team White Wolf," Ruby said. "They were a pretty potent three-person team last year in the Tri Battle Tournament. They like using Zakus."

Weiss smiled. "Men of culture, I see. I wonder why we haven't seen them before."

Yang caught sight of Ruby and excused her and Blake from the conversation, approaching their friends as Team White Wolf took positions near the stage. "Sup?"

"We saw you were talking with those guys," Ruby said. "Do you know them?"

"Who, Kenshou, and Yoshiki? Nah," Yang replied with a mischievous grin. "They were just asking for our numbers."

Blake gave her a half-lidded smirk. "I stayed quiet and let her lead them on a bit. They caught on quickly, but not before we got a good chuckle out of it."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Of course, you would."

Yang shrugged and was about to reply when the loudspeakers in the stadium sounded off. The entire crowd of ten thousand settled down, and all the contestants turned to see Mirai Kamiki, smiling happily in front of them.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" She cried out enthusiastically, "and welcome to the first round of the World Doubles Tournament! Over the next two weeks, we will be watching some of the world's best fighters go toe to toe in exciting two on two matches, with the grand prize being the winners being entered into the Battle Royals of the World Championship next month!"

She looked down at the assembled fighters. "This tournament has a unique set up in that every round will be determined entirely at random! So, every team that moves on will be fighting against one other team, but those teams may not be from the same bracket.

"Because of this, you all should prepare for whatever might get thrown at you, because your opponents won't be revealed until the day you are set to fight them!"

The crowd and contestants' murmurs echoed through the stadium, and while some seemed to express concern, Mirai could tell many of them were charged with excitement over this format.

Yang pumped her fist. "Alright! This is a true test of skill! No prep time, no problem!"

"It does seem rather unorthodox," Blake noted with concern.

"Perhaps, but I imagine that it'll probably draw in huge ratings," Weiss said. "From a certain standpoint, it makes sense."

Mirai smiled at the reaction. "Let's not keep you all in suspense! Generated randomly, here are the first matchups of the tournament!"

She waved her hand at the overhanging screens, which lit up with the tournament bracket. The team names were all in Japanese, save a few that couldn't be translated. "Hey, Ruby, you and Weiss are in the first match!" Yang said.

"Who are we fighting, though?" Weiss asked, squinting. "Team...Lionhearted?"

Ruby's eyes grew in a panic. "Oh now….," she shot a look over across the crowd. "Our first match…"

"Wait, Lionheart…." Blake thought for a moment. "That's-"

Ruby blinked several times, her brain had processed it already, yet she was having a difficult time believing

"But, that's the World Champ's rival!"

Her voice loud enough to rival the collective gossip of the crowd. Unbeknownst to her, from afar Kyrus has been watching them, his partner standing next to him.

"Well well…" A grin slowly appearing on his lips as he barely contained his enjoyment "This just got a lot more interesting~"

* * *

**BIOS:**

**JAUNE'S GUNPLA**

**GUNDAM CHEVALIER BLANC**

A customized variant of the RX-78-6 Gundam Mudrock with inspirations of the RX-78-7 Full Armor Gundam 7th, the Cavalier Blanc is a fully realized custom machine built by Jaune and Pyrrha. While the Duel Cavalier Pale mostly focused on long-range, with close-range considered a last resort primarily, the Chevalier Blanc aims to rectify this by hybridizing the incredible versatility of the Pale Rider (which Jaune opted to stick with for the arms and head, specifically for the HADES System) with the heavy defense of the Gundams he's used. He carried over the Pale Rider head from his last Gunpla to this one, complete with the GM Sniper II visor, to aid in long-range targeting.

The result is a long-range support mech that can easily outpace machines of its class and deal massive damage on the fly. Thanks to Pyrrha's armor optimization and choice modifications, the Chevalier Blanc can utilize HADES without the excessive strain on the Gunpla the Duel Cavalier Pale suffered from, maximizing Jaune's efficiency. At the same time, the system is activated without sacrificing defense.

The most exciting feature about this Gunpla is that Jaune is still working on its primary weapon. Though he is limited to what it can use right now, he hopes to have the finalized weapon set done by the second round of the tournament, provided he makes it that far.

* * *

**KYRUS'S GUNPLA**

**GUNDAM UNICORN CHIMERA**

A hybrid of the three Gundam Unicorn machines, Kyrus's Gunpla is a well known World Class contender. Using the body of the Unicorn Phenix (Narrative), the color scheme of the Unicorn Banshee, the red Psychoframe of the original Unicorn, and the full Perfectability package (minus the arm-mounted plasma cannon and standard Armed Armor claw, which both have been replaced with customized versions of the claw to allow usage of the Gunpla's hands), Kyrus Alexander has used the Unicorn Chimera in a vast majority of his matches over the years.

One of the few people who have challenged Ricardo Fellini, Kyrus, favors brute force and extreme speed, which the Unicorn units offer in spades. The Unicorn Chimera is a powerful and deadly opponent, capable of ripping other Gunpla to shreds in seconds if one is not careful. For ranged attacks, it uses the Banshee Norn's missile launcher-equipped beam magnum.

* * *

**MIRAI KAMIKI**

**Age: 17**

**Height: 5'10"**

**Hair: Red**

**Eyes: Aqua**

Mirai became the official announcer for the Gunpla Battle Commission last year when she replaced the original announcer due to her having morning sickness. While she had initially auditioned for the role and lost a contest to earn it, she suddenly found herself in the part of the face of Gunpla Battle and did such a fantastic job at it that it became a permanent position.

Mirai is the "host" for the Gunpla Tournaments. As Sekai's older sister, some might be concerned she might show favoritism to him or his friends, but she has proven to be impartial, though she secretly roots for them on the sidelines. Like Sekai, she is also practiced in the Jigen Haoh School of martial arts, though she rarely uses her skills.

* * *

**IO ALEXANDER**

**Height: 5'7"**

**Age: 27**

**Hometown: Sidney, Australia**

**Hair: Black**

**Eyes: Gold**

**Team: Lionhearted**

The younger sister of Kyrus Alexander, Io, is an apathetic and aloof woman who appears to care very little for the world around her. A talented Gunpla builder, she is more at home as her brother's Operator and maintenance crew, but for the Doubles tournament, she has opted to pick up a Gunpla of her own and fight with it.

* * *

**IO'S GUNPLA**

**GUNDAM BARBATOS LUPUS**

An otherwise unmodified Barbatos Lupus, II's machine is meant solely to support Kyrus. While the Barbatos Lupus is a powerful machine, II's inexperience in Gunpla Battle means she chose its high performance more to avoid direct combat, rather than engage in it directly.

She has the 200mm cannons Lupus uses on her arms and uses the Barbatos's longsword for close-range combat if needed. Still, her primary attack method is a long-barreled smoothbore cannon that the original Barbatos wielded for long-range support.

* * *

**MINATO SAKAI**

**Age: 16**

**Height: 5'6"**

**Hometown: Kyoto, Japan**

**Hair: Brown**

**Eyes: Blue**

**Team: Shingyo**

A bold and self-assured master builder from the Gunpla Shingyo School, Minato is well known in the Gunpla Grand Prix circuits as both the rival of Grand Prix and Meijin Cup veteran Yuuma Kousaka. He has trained at the same school that Gunpla World Championship contender Mao Yasaka came from, inflated his ego to extreme proportions.

His skills in Gunpla Battle are equally impressive, as he demonstrated by spearheading the team he joined Team Build Busters, during the Tri Battle Tournament last year. His skills are not to be underestimated, and his confidence is far from misplaced.

* * *

**SANSORO SATO**

**Age: 16**

**Height: 5'8" (slouches to 5'4")**

**Hometown: Osaka, Japan**

**Hair: Bald**

**Eyes: Blue**

**Team: Shingyo**

**Another student of th**e Shingyo Gunpla Building School, Sansoro, is often seen as a bit of a mischievous troublemaker. Laidback and easygoing, he loves puns as much as he loves Gunpla. Unlike Minato, Sansoro has been studying directly under Mao Yasaka, wanting time to learn the inventive ways that have influenced his Gunpla building.

* * *

**YOSHIKI UZUKI**

**Age: 19**

**Height: 5'10"**

**Hair: Blonde**

**Eyes: green**

**Team: White Wolf**

One of the three Team White Wolf members, the team that represented the Gabai Institute the previous year in the Tri Battle Tournament, Yoshiki, is arrogant yet skilled at support style combat. In past years, he used a Zaku II modified from the Psycho Zaku, Zaku II High Mobility Type, Jagd Doga, and featuring a GM Intercept Custom-like visor to protect its vulnerable monoeye camera. The six funnels and detachable five-barrel mega particle cannons in each hand allowed Yoshiki to do massive damage and suppressive fire while remaining otherwise safe. This machine was still obliterated by the Crossbone Gundam Full Cloth used by Lucas Kankaansyrjä during the Tri Battle Tournament last year. He has since created a new Gunpla, though it's presently unknown what it's based on.

* * *

**KENSHOU MATSUNAGA**

**Age: 19**

**Height: 5'11"**

**Hair: black**

**Eyes: gold**

**Team: White Wolf**

Level headed and tactically sound, Kenshou has taken a liking to both the personality and Gunpla of fictional Zeon ace pilot Shin Matsunaga, who shares the same family name as he does. He is a capable leader who has led his team to multiple tournament victories while representing the Gabai Institute. His last machine, a personalized Zaku II High Mobility Type called the Zaku Mánagarmr, was obliterated alongside Yoshiki's Zaku Kraken previous year. His new Gunpla is presently unknown, but likely is still a reference to Shin Matsunaga, as his last one was.


	22. Pride

**AN: Alpha here, back at it with another chapter! Thanks for the support all of you have shown me and this project. I truly appreciate it.**

**This chapter is pretty special for a couple of reasons. First, it's the chapter that marks the one year anniversary of RWBY Build Fighters! Kyrus and I posted the first chapter on October 2nd, 2019, and it's come a long way since then both thanks to tireless efforts on Kyrus's part to edit my writing and from some fan suggestions (such as linking Mercury to Io Fleming-thank you to the reader who suggested that. Also, I saw your comment about having him use Atlas Gundam, and sadly I can't use that one because I have plans for Atlas Gundam elsewhere, and I want Emerald and Merc to have a more cohesive flow going forward as a team).**

**The other reason it's special is that this is the first full chapter featuring Kyrus's two OC characters, Kyrus and Io. The Alexanders were added into this story as a thank you to my editor, for his hard work and continued friendship. I hope you enjoy this fight—also, apologies in advance to Kyrus (the editor, not OC) and any Australians. I'm not too good with your vocabulary and slang. Kyrus himself already railed on me for it, and as an Aussie, he has done his best to fix my mistakes, but if he missed anything, I apologize! **

**Anyway, let's get to the action!**

* * *

The brackets were posted live, and most of the teams had retreated to the back to begin preparations. It had been ten minutes since the shock of their first match had hit them, and Ruby, usually the calm and optimistic of the bunch, was beginning to panic.

Weiss sat with her partner on the couch in the lounge provided backstage, trying to comfort her.

But this was where Ruby's intense knowledge of the Gunpla Battle scene worked against her, as she had studied Kyrus Alexander's meteoric rise in the few short years he had been involved in the tournaments. The fact he had nearly beaten the World Champion on at least two separate occasions.

"I knew this could happen," she muttered, worry etched across her face, "but I didn't expect it to be in the first round!"

"Ruby, it's going to be okay," Weiss said assuringly. She paused, thinking for a moment. "Think of it this way: if we can't compete against Kyrus, then we have no right to be here. If we win the tournament, we will be entered into the World Championship, where opponents like Kyrus are plentiful. If we can't face him now, how would we face the Meijin, Ricardo Fellini, or Wilfrid Kijima?"

"Yeah," Yang added. "If Sekai can take these guys on, or Sei Iori did when he was younger than us, then we stand a pretty good chance." She looked at Blake, who sat in the chair next to her. "Besides, even though some of us were invited, we all had to make it our business to get better. I'm sure you're just psyching yourself out."

"Yang's got the point," Blake said. "We wouldn't have been chosen to participate if we didn't have the skill."

Ruby looks around at each of them, searching their faces. She found the conviction echoing in their eyes as it had their words, and it brought forth a calm state of comfort in her.

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "You're all right." She closed her eyes, focusing, before looking up with a determined expression. "Okay. Win or lose, Weiss, let's give them everything we have!"

Weiss gave her a small, happy smile. "Of course. I'm right behind you."

"Heh, that's the spirit," Yang commented, patting Ruby roughly on the back. Her little sister staggered from the force, stumbling forward a few steps before she caught herself. "Oops. Sorry."

Ruby looked back at her and gave her a dirty look, but it softened after a moment. "Good luck to you guys, too!" She called out as she ran to catch up with Weiss, who was already heading for the Battle System entrance.

Yang turned on the English channel for the commentary and smiled as she saw her teachers on screen. Miss Peach and Mister Port were both lovely, chattering away about the excitement filling the air. It was enough to make someone forget about how much pressure everyone was under.

"Hey." Blake grabbed her sleeve and tugged on it lightly, breaking Yang's thoughts. "Do you think they have a chance?"

Yang sighed and plopped down on the couch. "Who knows? But if Ruby didn't think we had confidence in her, she wouldn't stand a chance, period. At least this way, she's got a little fire in her step, ya know?"

Blake nodded. "True."

The crowd was nearly deafening as they cheered with excitement. The intermission had come close, and Ruby and Weiss walked through the tunnel into the staging area. Mirai was standing to the side of the raised platform where the battle table sat. Across from them, Kyrus and Io were approaching, the smug air of confidence exuding from their persons.

The four contestants stepped up to the table, which immediately spun to life. "GUNPLA BATTLE COMBAT MODE START UP! PLEASE SET YOUR GP BASE!"

"Hey," Weiss said as she set her base down. She gave Ruby one last reassuring smile. "We have this."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah."

* * *

Lady Kawaguchi stood next to the Meijin. Both of them wore similar looks of distress; the Doubles Tournament announcement would be a randomized bracket that took everyone by surprise and filled the Meijin with concern. Lady Kawaguchi shared that concern, and her mind was already ticking away as the battle table spun up.

"What do you think it means?" She asked. "Rule changes like that rarely happen at the last minute."

"It's not unheard of," the Meijin replied, glaring through the glass, through the contestants, and into the shining Plavsky Particles themselves. He gritted his teeth at the bad memory. "Still, it feels like the Seventh Tournament all over again."

Lady Kawaguchi looked at him. "Oh, so?"

"Chairman Mashita employed a variety of dirty tactics to manipulate the tournament to put Sei Iori and Reiji at disadvantages, up to and including field changes mid-battle and, of course, forcing me to fight with Team Nemesis' Embody system." He frowned. "I know the Tri Battle Tournament used a similar randomizing bracket, but that didn't kick in until the Semi-Finals. To make the entire tournament like that feels… off."

The Lady nodded, turning back to the battle as the fighters loaded up their Gunpla. "Well, if PPSE's goal was to increase the difficulty and excitement level of the Tournament, they succeeded. Everyone seems pumped."

The Meijin didn't say a word. His eyes were too focused on the four fighters. The Lady was right; if this was legit, then it indeed did bode well for viewership.

Still, he couldn't help the nagging suspicion in his thoughts.

Something else was in play.

* * *

"FIELD TWO: DESERT."

Kyrus looked around as the field materialized. It was, indeed, a desert, but not just any dessert. He recognized the massive red Tekkadan on the old base in the middle of the map. "Mars, eh? Interesting. Reminds me of the outback."

"The gravity will be lower here," Io commented. "From what I've seen of Ruby Rose's fighting style, she prefers fast, agile machines from the SEED series. Most of which can stay in the air nearly indefinitely."

"And her partner is an unknown factor." Kyrus grinned. "This should be entertaining. Io, keep me covered. I'll tear them to shreds and advance us."

"Copy that. Io Alexander, Barbatos Lupus, launch!"

"Time to make this tournament one to remember. Gundam Unicorn Chimera, Kyrus Alexander, Let's have a blast!"

The two machines launched out of the main gate and immediately noticed Ruby and Weiss's machines standing on Mars' dusty red surface. As Kyrus landed, he inspected their Gundams.

"A custom Sleeves Gyan Krieger and a personalized Destiny Gundam, huh?" He tilted his head slightly. "Both fast machines meant for close combat… Good."

"Focus," Io reprimanded him. "We don't know what kind of gimmicks they're using."

They watched as the two stood, eyeing them up. Ruby shifted nervously. "I don't like this."

"Why aren't they attacking?" Weiss raised her shield in her right hand, wary. "Are they waiting for us?"

Ruby studied them intently. The Unicorn Chimera alone would be a problem, but with the heavy smoothbore cannon the Lupus was carrying, it would be hard to focus on Kyrus. Io's range and mobility were comparable to Ruby's, and she might be just as good as Kyrus in piloting ability.

"Weiss, listen. I'll distract Kyrus. Destiny Scythe should be able to keep up with and out of reach of the Unicorn long enough for you to take out the Barbatos Lupus."

"But Ruby-"

"If we get hit with that smoothbore gun, we may as well be finished. The plastic of our Gunpla can't handle an impact that strong without some significant damage. Once you deal with the Lupus, help me. Our best bet is to double team Kyrus."

Weiss paused for a second, before nodding. Her friend's resolve had returned. The nervous teenager was gone, replaced by the more level-headed Gundam nerd she needed to be. "Okay. Tell me when."

"And Weiss. Don't use the Rose Bits. If Kyrus enters NT-D mode, he could take control of them and use them against us."

The thought disheartened Weiss, but she knew Ruby was right. This fight was going to be challenging enough without her losing her bits to the enemy. "Got it. Tell me when."

Ruby cradled Crescent Rose in her hand, keeping it in rifle mode. Almost nobody knew about its transformation, and she wanted to keep it that way. "Okay. Go!"

Weiss steadied her shield and boosted forward. Kyrus planted his left foot behind him and braced for a shield bash, but watched as Weiss shot past him. Io opened fire with the smoothbore rifle, but Weiss easily avoided the shot. She landed on her left foot and thrust forward with her sword, which caused Io to backpedal.

The massive rifle threw her off balance for a moment, but she activated her hover jets and recovered right as Weiss charged again. Realizing that her long-range strategy was no longer viable, she discarded the smoothbore cannon and raised both arms to open fire with her forearm mounted cannons to ward off the Gyan Noblesse Oblige.

Kyrus began to turn and raise his beam magnum at Weiss, but an alert sounded from the direction the Gyan had come from. Turning his head, he narrowly escaped a sniper shot from Ruby. The Gundam Destiny Scythe was kneeling in a crouched position, scoping in for another shot. Kyrus boosted to the side as a second shot nearly hit his knee, and twisted to the left as a third soared from where his head had been less than a second ago.

"Kid's got good aim," he grumbled, raising his rifle. Opting to avoid using a beam shot due to its long charge, he instead used the underslung missile pod, firing a pair of short-range missiles at the Destiny Scythe. He watched as Ruby shot into the air, using her head Vulcans to destroy the missiles. "Got ya, mate!"

Ruby gasped as her alarms went haywire, and watched as the Chimera fired its beam magnum. Thinking quickly, reminded of when the Strike Freedom fought the Destiny in the anime, she targeted Kyrus's Gunpla in a straight line from her position. She swung the Destiny's high-output mega beam cannon into the front, mounting it on a connection on her hip, and returned fire.

The two potent energy blasts collided in a brilliant and bright display of sparks, electrical discharges, and radiant heat before they dissipated and canceled each other out. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that had worked.

Kyrus smirked. "It's too soon to relax, you little fidget!"

He rocketed forward and up, chasing after Ruby. She smiled, thankful he took the bait. Now, Weiss just needed to finish off Io.

Blake and Yang sat with Sekai, Shia, Yuuma, and Fumina in the back. Yang hollered as Ruby canceled out the massive beam shot from Kyrus, leaping out of her seat and startling Yuuma and Blake.

"Ruby's playing very defensively," Fumina noted.

Yuuma nodded, glancing over at the Gyan Noblesse Oblige, which had begun pushing the Barbatos Lupus back. Io dashed backward and opened fire again with her cannons, but Weiss, undeterred, continued to advance. A beam shot fired from her custom rapier, but it slammed harmlessly against Lupus's anti-beam-treated Armor.

"Io Alexander is using anti-beam coating like nanolaminate armor," he observed. "Those beam shots won't do any damage."

Fumina tilted her head. "Maybe they are a distraction?"

They watched as the Lupus drew the massive Barbatos katana-like longsword from its back and pushed forward, causing Weiss to pull back slowly. She moved to slice Weiss in half from shoulder to hip, but the sword bounced off her buckler. Explosions hit Io across her body, sending her staggering backward and back to the defensive.

"What happened?" Blake asked.

Yuuma observed. "Hide mines," he explained as Weiss closed the gap and began to thrust and stab at the Lupus, slashing at the weaker exposed hydraulics it used for its midsection. "Weiss lured Io into a point-blank trap."

Yang sat back down as she watched her sister dodge Kyrus in the air. "Man, this is getting tense. Ruby's on the run, and Weiss is pressing hard on the other chick."

She clenched her teeth as Kyrus reached for Ruby, who boosted up and narrowly avoided his grasp. "C'mon…"

Ruby panted hard as she tried to circle behind the Chimera. She opened fire again, but the large gold shields on its back moved and deflected the shots. Kyrus swung around and immediately opened fire with another beam magnum shot, forcing Ruby to dodge to the right to avoid it.

"Crapbaskets," she cursed, stopping mid-flight and pulling back on her control orbs to pull into a steep climb. She knew the Unicorn Gunpla couldn't stay airborne indefinitely, even under weaker than normal gravity, and she intended to use that to her advantage as she watched Kyrus plummet back to the red planet.

She dashed forward, firing several shots with her beam rifle. Kyrus reached behind him and grabbed the handle for the left shield on his back, the sub-arm stretching so he could fold it forward and block the incoming shots. He returned fire, forcing Ruby to dodge by bending over backward. She fired two more shots, which Kyrus avoided, before resuming her offensive press downward.

Kyrus landed on the ground with a heavy thud, as he felt the orbs under his hands shake violently. "Okay, now you're just annoying me," he growled, looking up and reacquiring his target. He fired his magnum again but was surprised when Ruby opted to activate her beam shield and tank the shot rather than avoid it. The incredible power of the blast stopped her momentarily, but to his surprise, the Destiny Scythe was more or less unharmed.

Even more surprising was that the heavy beam cannon on its back was now flipped forward again, but this time sat over Ruby's left shoulder instead of her hip. A shocked expression crossed Kyrus' face as he backed up. "Oh, bloody hel-"

Ruby opened fire, the brilliant and massive beam narrowly missing Kyrus and blasting a crater into the ground where the impact hit. The surface of the earth was turned to glass almost instantly from the heat.

Ruby looked over at Weiss, who was forcing Io back. "Come on; I can't hold him off forever!"

Weiss growled as she stabbed at the Barbatos Lupus for what seemed like the thousandth time. "I'm working on it!" She shouted agitated. She parried another blow from Io, deflecting her sword and forcing her back. Io boosted away as Weiss brought a short slash down on her position. When she missed, she leveled her sword and fired two beams at Io's feet, hoping to knock her off balance, but missed both times as the Lupus darted around.

Io fires her cannons towards Weiss, but the shots hit the ground between them, throwing up a smokescreen. Weiss hesitated first a moment but ultimately decided to push ahead, flying through the cloud of dust.

Her proximity sensors lit up, forcing her into a rapid evasive turn as a powerful slug went flying past. She turned her monoeye to the left and noticed Io, the smoothbore cannon in hand and the Lupus kneeling, aimed right at her.

Backtracking through the slowly dissipating smoke, Weiss retreated as a second shot whizzed by her head. Io fired one of her forearm cannons and kicked up the dust cloud again, her brows furrowed in frustration.

Kyrus fired several more missiles at Ruby and turned, making sure his sister was in a defensible position. He watched as Weiss committed to feinting in and out of the dust cloud, her robust backpack increasing its thickness and pinning Io in. He growled, annoyed. "Alright, that's it!"

The armor of the Gundam Unicorn Chimera began shifting, opening up to reveal a brilliant red psycho-frame under the black and red panels.

Ruby stared in fear as the newly-awakened Newtype Destroyer Mode glared up at her. She was reminded of the scene in Dragonball Z, where Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan for the first time.

'_This must have been how Freiza felt...' _she thought, as she watched the shields move behind Kyrus. The Chimera shifted, moving into a crouch, before pushing off with incredible speed and rocketing towards the Destiny Scythe.

She turned and immediately activated her special mode, SEED Mode, and did her best to escape. Destiny Scythe's wings folded back and expanded, emitting mighty wings of light that increased her speed in an attempt to hold Kyrus off. The Chimera was slowly gaining, but Ruby had a head start.

Ruby shot a glance at Weiss, who she could tell was getting irritated. Weiss was getting more and more aggressive, forcing Io to keep the smokescreen up in defense.

"Weiss, I need help!"

She saw her partner nod on screen. "Give me just one more moment."

Despite Ruby's earlier warning, Weiss detached a single white rose bit from the rear of her Gyan. It flew through the smokescreen, piercing it from Io's rear, and fired a single beam at the back of her smoothbore cannon. The shot alerted Io too late, and she dropped the weapon as it exploded and sent her flying backward.

Weiss took the opportunity and boosted forward. "Kyrus! A little help, please!" Io called out. She did her best to fend off Weiss, but the Gyan pressed forward with fierce determination.

Kyrus stopped mid-air and aimed his beam magnum at the flight path of the Gyan, but was caught flat-footed by Ruby, who fired her sniper rifle and pierced the massive missile pod on the beam magnum. It exploded, startling and enraging Kyrus.

Io glanced up, reaching for her longsword. As her hand grasped the hilt on her back, however, she watched as the tip of Weiss's blade pierced her Gunpla's left eye, causing its head to recoil and her primary camera to cut out. Weiss pulled up and slammed her buckler into the Lupus's neck, allowing her to rip the Gundam's head from its body cleanly. Io's controls went dead, and her cockpit fell dark as she was eliminated from the match.

Kyrus roared in anger as he chased Ruby. "Come here!'

He reached for Destiny Scythe, and the forearm armor of the Chimera opened up and flipped forward into a custom-built transforming claw, its four fingers lined with exceedingly sharp blades meant to rend Gunpla parts like paper.

Ruby glanced back at Chimera, terror filling her eyes, and raised her rifle above her head. Kyrus smirked, thinking she was trying to club him with the weapon, but his eyes opened wide as he saw the tip of the rifle expand.

The rifle's back end extended, and the front opened into a gargantuan scythe, its edge lined with a brilliant pink beam. A collective gasp sounded across the stadium and resonated through the back rooms as all the contestants and spectators watched Ruby swing the scythe down towards Kyrus.

He immediately pulled back on his controls, his Gunpla sticking its legs straight out to halt his advance. He came to a sudden stop before Ruby, intent on dodging above her and grappling her Gundam.

Proximity alarms went off, and he turned, seeing the Gyan Noblesse Oblige charging him. Weiss slashed at the air, the head of the Barbatos Lupus still on her sword. The disembodied head slid off her blade and was flung at Kyrus, who blocked it with his right hand at the same moment Ruby's scythe came down on him. He had moved just out of range of her slash, but the hooked weapon still connected with his right back shield, cleaving it free.

Kyrus boosted forward and away from the two Gunpla as Weiss charged, thrusting her sword at the spot where he had just been. He turned to see both the Gyan and Destiny Scythe recovering from their missed attacks, turning to face him directly.

He looked over at Io, her Gunpla dead on the red sands of Mars. His Gunpla's damage indicator had greyed out the missing shield on his back, and without his beam magnum, he was without ranged options.

Ruby panted lightly. "'Nice of you to stop by!"

"I do what I can."

The entire stadium was full of gasps and murmurs from the sudden display exhibited here. Ricardo blinked in surprise, not sure how Kyrus had found himself in such a pickle. He sat with Hathaway, Jim, and two women, all eagerly watching the fight.

"So, what just happened?" Jim asked. He couldn't see the screen very well and have been listening to the play by plays.

"I gotta admit, Little Red Riding Reaper has herself a fancy big scythe," the shorter of the two girls commented. She grinned excitedly. "Not sure how she's gonna use something so big against Kyrus, though."

Hathaway dipped on his soda as he watched. "In all likelihood, she can't, Evelyn," he responded. "It's kind of like the Destiny's anti-ship sword-it's only hyper lethal if you connect. But it's too big and unwieldy to use against something as fast as the Unicorn Chimera."

"She probably wanted to do some damage with that first swing, with the element of surprise," the blonde girl next to Evelyn added. "He responded too fast, but I'd bet three hundred pounds she wanted to take an arm with that swing. She'll probably keep it in rifle mode now."

"You can't tell me you aren't a little impressed, Jack," Hath commented. "That's a dual-action weapon there."

"It's far from practical," Jack replied. "She probably knows it, too, so the smart thing for her to do would be to return it to its rifle mode, as I said."

Jim nodded, listening in. "A giant scythe that's also a gun, huh? What will they think of next?"

Ricardo smirked. "You seem rather laid back. Think you know who's going to win, Hawkins?"

Jim turned to him and smiled. "The girls will win. Kyrus is strong, but I can hear the thrusters blazing when he dodges. He's fighting two on one, now. He's a running back playing defense. He's all about pushing the attack, but he's not good at defending himself. Not against two-pronged strikes."

Ricardo watched as he charged the two, and they scattered, forcing him to chase Ruby, before dodging a beam shot from Weiss's rapier. "Yeah. You might be right about that."

Kyrus ducked under another sweep by Ruby, retreating immediately during her follow-through. He began to freefall back to the ground, staring up at the two who slowly descended with him. Ruby returned the titanic red and black scythe to its rifle form with a quick and easy motion.

Ruby remained in the air as Weiss touched down, hovering beside her. Weiss wore a fierce look on her face as she repositioned her Gunpla, the Gyan taking up a fencer's stance in preparation to strike. "We need to put him down quickly."

Ruby nodded. They had to entrap him somehow. "I'll keep trying to distract him. If you see an opening, take it."

"You sure you can do it?"

Ruby smiled. "No, but it's the best thing I can think of. If I can get in to strike from the side or behind…"

"Okay." Weiss twirled her rapier and brought it eye level with the Gyan's head; saber pointed straight towards Kyrus. "Ready."

Ruby waited for a second before calling out and rushing. Weiss watched as her partner shot straight at Kyrus, firing her beam rifle. Kyrus effortlessly dodged to the side, waiting for the Destiny Scythe.

"Not bad… Not bad at all," he muttered in appreciation. A smile grew on his face, excitement creeping through him. "To corner me like this... I'll gladly take this challenge!"

As the gap closed, he charged her, both clawed arms open and ready. He expected Ruby to extend her scythe again, but was surprised when she didn't, opting instead to try and leap over him.

As she passed overhead, he jumped, reaching and catching the front of her foot with one of the bladed claws. The claw effortlessly sliced through her Gunpla, causing the foot boosters on her left foot to falter and explode. She staggered into the dirt, digging into the Martian surface before coming to a stop.

Weiss took the opportunity to open fire with her beam gun, the tip of her rapier lancing out in brilliant white light. Kyrus again dodged it and went to charge her, but stopped and turned as his alert system sounded. Another powerful mega beam fired from Ruby's position as she got up.

Ruby assessed the damage. Her left leg had exploded and was virtually useless. Aside from her V-fin being torn off from the crash, most of her Gunpla seemed at least functional, so she counted her blessings. She used her thrusters to get airborne, trying to use what little mobility she had to keep fighting, though without her left leg acting as a rudder, her movement was impaired.

Alerts came alive around her, shocking her from a momentary daze. She boosted left, narrowly avoiding Kyrus's outstretched claw. She spun rapidly as she stabilized herself, hovering meters off the ground.

A torrent of bullets from the Chimera's Vulcans tore through the air, forcing Ruby to bring her beam shield up. The barrier stopped the attack but prevented her from accurately seeing what Kyrus was doing until she saw a claw out of the upper right hand of her monitor.

She attempted to get away, but the claw ripped through the energy barrier and grabbed her beam shield emitter, crippling it as he crushed it. Ruby ejected the shield and got away, and Kyrus moved to pursue but was met with a shield bash from Weiss, who intercepted him and knocked him out.

Ruby and Weiss both fired at the Unicorn Chimera, driving Kyrus back. "Ruby, are you alright?"

"Grrr….he keeps taking chunks off of my Gunpla." Ruby glanced around in an attempt to think. "At this rate, he'll probably tear me up before we can deal with any significant damage."

"We need to divide his attention." Weiss touched down on the ground and swiveled her sword up to run horizontally across her line of sight, drawn up to her head, and pointed at Kyrus. "I'll go low. You go high and try to stay out of his reach."

"We keep trying that, though," Ruby replies. "There's gotta be something-"

Her thoughts were interrupted as Kyrus charged again. "You girls think you can afford to chat?!" He cried out as he swiped at Weiss, forcing her to backpedal. She retaliated with several stabs but was kicked away by the long legs of the Unicorn Gundam.

Ruby bolted in an attempt to gain some distance between her and Kyrus, but he quickly caught up to him. She gasped as he reached out and grabbed her remaining foot, pulling her to him.

His right claw took hold of her right-wing and tore it off mercilessly, tossing it aside. She struggled in his grasp, moving to expand Crescent Rose to swipe at him, but he grabbed her right arm and used the blades on the inside of his clawed fingers to cut through her forearm.

The crowd could be heard in stunning murmurs and audible gasps. Yang gritted her teeth. She cried out to her sister, hoping in some way that her will and strength would carry over through the television.

Ruby's panels blared warnings, and her entire cockpit was glowing red. She moved her Gunpla's left arm over to her hip and grabbed the beam saber hilt held there, igniting it while it remained in its charging rack. The pink blade pierced the Unicorn Chimera's midsection, causing Kyrus to laugh. "Yes! This, this is why I can't stay away! Don't just keel over and accept your defeat! If you still have it in you, then keep fighting!"

Ruby swung the blade out and tried to turn and slash at Kyrus, but his grip on her Gunpla only caused even more damage to her body. She saw the claw of his left hand clamped hard on her shoulder and under her arms, ready to cut clean through her body if she moved.

She was about to bring the beam saber up to cut herself free when she was spun violently. The force was enough to cause her to lose her grip on her beam saber, which fell to the surface. She cried out in surprise as she watched seven-pin missiles from Weiss's shield hurtle toward them, impacting Ruby when they were intended for Kyrus.

Weiss watched in horror as Destiny Scythe was used to shield the Unicorn Chimera from her barrage before Kyrus unceremoniously threw her straight down into the red sand below. Ruby it hard, the force of the impact causing her cockpit to shake violently.

She quickly assessed the damage. Her right arm was gone, as were her right-wing and left leg. The straight leg was ravaged beyond functionality, and her primary camera was partially damaged. Her torso had suffered numerous impacts, and the claw marks from Kyrus's Gunpla were apparent across the chest area.

The Banshee touched down just beyond where Ruby had landed. Kyrus smirked, nodding his head in approval at the team of teenagers that valiantly took him on. "I must say I'm very impressed. No one has pushed me this far since Ricardo."

He turned and faced Weiss, who looked at Ruby in despair. Kyrus's presence was overwhelming. And she was without using her usual tactics since his NT-D mode could steal her rose bits.

"Now then," he said, snapping her attention to him. "I'm giving you one chance to throw in the towel. Your Gyan is an impressive work of art, and I would hate to have to break it."

Weiss's eyebrows furrowed in frustration. She dropped into a defensive posture she learned from Pyrrha, with her buckler shield pointed out, and her sword reared behind her. "This Gyan isn't just for show! Don't expect me to back down from such a trivial inconvenience as fighting you alone."

Kyrus grinned as he charged forward with a roar. He could hear both the uncertainty and fear in her voice, but also a fierce determination and stubbornness that reminded him of his own.

She steeled herself as he rushed, raising her shield to fend off a volley from his Vulcans before ducking under a claw swipe. She stepped to the side as he swung the same claw backward in a backhand blow, before jumping away to avoid the second claw.

She deployed a few hide mines directly in front of her as she landed. Kyrus rushed again, swiping down at her with his right hand, but was immediately repelled as small explosions detonated around him. He grunted in pain as the blinding flashes overloaded his visual sensors, switching to sonar in time to see Weiss charge with her saber in hand.

He sidestepped her thrust and kicked the Gyan in the midsection with enough force that Weiss's platform shook, and her Gunpla lifted into the air. He brought his left elbow down and drove Weiss into the ground, stomping on her with one foot to pin her there.

Weiss growled, before cycling through her weapons. She knew Ruby told her not to, but…

A single white rose bit jettisoned from its rack on the underside of the Gyan Noblesse Oblige's backpack, positioning itself behind Kyrus. Surprised, he turned to address the new threat, which opened fire on him and darted around to try and get a better angle with each shot.

Kyrus raised his hand and the red psycho-frame began shining a brilliant green, resonating with the bit and capturing it within his control. The Chimera overrode Weiss's hold, and the bit shot at Weiss. Weiss dodged the first shot of the bit and fired a volley of pin missiles at it, blocking its beam with her shield and destroying the stolen mobile weapon in time to duck another swing from Kyrus's right hand.

She crouched and then boosted upwards, the point of her rapier tearing a neat gash along the chest of the Unicorn Chimera and ripping one of the armor plates off of its left side. The end of her left knee connected with Kyrus's chin, staggering him, but before she could capitalize on it, he had grabbed her foot and slammed her back to the ground with such ferocity that she screamed in surprise.

She raised her rapier at him, but he grabbed the blade. "Sorry princess, but It's time I brought an end to this." He brought his foot down on top of her Gunpla, but she blocked the blow with her shield.

He growled and kicked her shield away, but it remained attached to her arm, and she returned it to a defensive position as he stomped on her again. She felt the impacts through the sudden and violent vibrations in her control orbs and the platform she stood on, and by the third blow, she could feel Kyrus's frustration as well.

Kyrus brought his foot up to stomp on her again, but she retaliated with a beam shot from her rapier. Kyrus lost his balance and released her rapier, allowing Weiss to boost away and regain her footing.

As she landed and got back into a defensive stance, Kyrus rushed again. She smacked his right claw away and ducked his left, before slashing at his midsection near where Ruby had

punctured him. He returned the favor with a devastating blow to her back, slamming his right forearm across her backpack and bringing her to a knee. She raised her shield and fired more hide mines, but Kyrus, unphased, reached through the detonations and grabbed her small buckler.

Weiss gasped as alarms began to sound, alerting her to increasing pressure and damage to her right arm and shield. The blades of his claw dug in, but the thick plastic Weiss had used prevented him from cleaving straight through.

"Crap, at this rate…" Weiss began to panic, deploying every mine and pin missile she could, but the overall damage to the claw holding her in place was essentially pointless. Kyrus used his strength to begin pulling the shield, which increased pressure on her elbow joint to the point where the stress would break it.

Opting to save her arm, she ejected the shield, throwing Kyrus off balance again and allowing her to escape. He regained his balance with a simple step and lashed out, narrowly missing Weiss as she retreated. He tossed the shield away and gave chase, catching up to her quickly and forcing her to dodge and weave his furious attacks.

Her monoeye scanned the area, looking for anything she could use as a weapon or shield. Explosions had pocked the surface of Mars, and debris lay everywhere.

Then, she saw it. Her eyes lit up in excitement, but the moment she stopped focusing on avoiding Kyrus, he kicked her back to the surface. She screamed again as she hit the ground hard, skidding across the loose soil and settling face down in the dirt.

She had lost her weapon on impact. Alerts popped up everywhere, and she scrambled to regain control as damage indicators popped up. Her HUD and changed from icy blue to a honey yellow to caution her. She began to get onto her hands and knees slowly, but the sound of Kyrus landing next to her made her freeze.

He reached down and grabbed the Gyan by the back of the head, the fingers of the claws draping over her field of vision. Weiss spun the monoeye to the end of the Gyan's head to look at the menacing green glow of the Chimera's, awakened psycho-frame.

"An admirable effort, Miss Schnee," Kyrus praised. "I couldn't have asked for a better fight from you and your partne-"

Alarms went off around Kyrus, and he paused for a moment before looking at the alerts. Did Weiss intend on self-destructing?

No, it was a proximity alarm. But where?

He turned to his left just as he noticed the heavily damaged Gundam Destiny Scythe hurtling towards him; it's left palm open. Ruby cried out as her hand clamped down on the face of the Chimera. "What the hell?!"

Kyrus threw Weiss away and clamped down on Ruby's torso. The Destiny Scythe's damaged form buckled as the Palma Fiocina cannon in its palm lit up, causing the right half of the Unicorn Chimera's face to explode. The claw around Ruby sliced through, removing the remaining arm at the shoulder and cutting her torso into three pieces, which exploded and destroyed the Chimera's entire forearm.

Kyrus staggered backward, stunned, all of his sensors partially scrambled or destroyed. His cockpit lit up in a dangerous red, and alerts sounded to show him the damage. And worse still, the damage to the head had deactivated his NT-D mode.

As his vision cleared, he turned his head and saw Weiss, kneeling, her head down low. Her monoeye swiveled yo, watching him from the top of the cross-shaped visor on its face.

"I'll admit," Kyrus started, "I should have finished off your partner earlier. But don't think for a second that this means you've won."

"I beg to differ," Weiss responded, before twisting her wrist and selecting Slot Three on her right orb. Clicking it three times releases the last three rose bits she had stored up. Without his psycho-frame, she has plenty of opportunities to use them.

Kyrus checked the status of his Vulcans-they were too damaged to use. Dealing with them at range would be impossible, and he only had one claw left. He smirked; perhaps this will be a fair fight, then.

The bits hovered by Weiss for a moment, before being sent forward to attack. Kyrus reached over his shoulder and drew a beam saber, waiting for them to get close enough and doing his best to avoid the incoming beams.

Weiss used the distraction to stand and boost away. Kyrus caught her in his sights only after she had traveled a fair distance, and he gave chase, continuing to avoid the bits. He glanced behind him as on beam shot the sub arm holding his second back shield off, while another pierced his knee and blew his left lower leg off.

Kyrus growled in annoyance as he barrel rolled away from another three beams and lashed out, nailing one bit with his beam saber. He turned back and saw Weiss descend, and he gave chase.

Weiss touched down and crouched, reaching for something. Kyrus realized she'd found a weapon, perhaps her rapier, and increased speed, hoping to catch her off guard. He rose his beam saber above his head but began trying to stop as he watched the Gyan's eye swivel to the back of its head to watch him. She was planning to strike, and he fell right for it.

She turned, holding something. A rifle, but it began to morph in her hand, and Kyrus's eyes lit up in fear as he struggled to stop as a titanic red and black scythe unfurled behind Weiss and was swung downward right at him. He put his right leg out t stop and narrowly avoided the weapon's beam blade weapon as its point slammed into the ground.

Weiss pulled back on a bolt action lever on the side, her face lighting up. Kyrus was at point-blank range and couldn't hope to avoid this. "Checkmate," she said, pulling the trigger on the weapon. A yellow beam shot forward and slammed straight through the Chimera's chest, piercing its backpack and coming out the other side.

The shot seemed to echo around the stadium. Yang, Blake, Sekai, Hathaway, Jack, Evelyn, Qrow, Summer, Winter, Jaune, Pyrrha, Fumina, Yuuma, Ricardo, both Kawaguchis, every other contestant who had both met Weiss and Ruby or hadn't yet had the pleasure collectively gasped and stared in silence as one of the Favored Eight of last year's World Championship exploded in front of them.

"BATTLE ENDED!"

A stunned silence fell over the crowd, lingering for a moment before it erupted in cheers. The entire stadium seemed to ignite in excitement. As the holographic display fell and the cockpits disappeared, the four contestants, visibly spent, looked at each other with surprise and relief that such an intense fight was over with.

Weiss was dripping with sweat from both the fight and the draining fatigue she felt. The stress had been tremendous.

Kyrus surveyed the remains of the Gunpla kits. Weiss was, besides scuff marks and scratches, for the most part, still intact. The Gyan Noblesse Oblige stood in its crouched pose, on one knee, the scythe clutched in its hands. The Unicorn Chimera was in pieces.

He walked over and picked up the remains of its head, smiling. "Chimera, my old friend... Thank you. That was a hell of a last fight we had," he said quietly to himself, before turning to walk over to the girls.

The duo looked at each other. They had no idea what Kyrus was about to say, but it made both of them nervous. He was a big man, easily almost two feet taller than either of them. It was imposing.

"That was spectacular!" he exclaimed to his opponents, before giving them a giant and excited grin and offering both hands to them. "Thank you! I couldn't have asked for a better way to retire Chimera. I look forward to seeing where you're going to go from here!"

They both paused, taken aback by his jovial nature, but smiled back and nodded. "Thank you, Mister, Alexander!" Ruby said excitedly. "That was an amazing fight. I'm so honored!"

"Please, call me Kyrus," he corrected. "Mister Alexander is my father, and I'm not quite ready to be called that yet."

Ruby and Weiss took a hand and shook it, and he smiled happily at them. Io approached and stood to his left, offering them a small smile and nod. "Brilliantly played," she said simply.

Kyrus glanced down at her, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Heh, look at you, all smiles. Didn't know you had it in yo-."

Io's right arm shot out and jabbed him in the ribs, eliciting a surprised grunt from the man. She then crossed her arms and looked away with a generally annoyed expression. Ruby and Weiss couldn't help but laugh nervously.

"In all seriousness," Kyrus started as he rubbed his side. That was a fantastic display of skill. And you, Miss Rose. That's twice you've risen from the ashes to help clinch a victory."

"Twice?" Ruby looked at him, puzzled, before remembering the Regionals with Yang. "Oh! Right!"

"Remember that, both of you. No matter how tough the battle, how many times life knocks you down, that if you can get back up again, you're the victor. You've proven that, for the entire world to see." He gave her one last nod. "I'll be watching your fights with great interest. I certainly expect a rematch at some point."

"You...you got it!" Ruby happily exclaimed. Weiss gave him a courteous bow before they respectfully excused themselves to meet with their friends.

From the press boxes, viewers each had their impressions of what just went down. The Meijin replayed the battle in his mind, thinking about everything that had gone down. Kyrus was a monster one on one, but he was taken off guard multiple times by the girls' tactics. Something to file away for the World Championship, to be sure.

Qrow and Mister Ral both looked at each other, a little surprised. Ozpin, however, simply smiled knowingly, as if he knew they indeed had it in them.

Salem, however, appeared quite displeased, and Cinder, confused. "How was that even possible?" Cinder asked Watts. "I thought you accounted for everything."

"Enough," Salem replied, displeasure in her voice at the realization she should have made earlier. "He accounted for everything he knew about. However, many of the fighters Ozpin brought are unknowns, without any records on file for him to study."

She turned to Watts. "After the first round battles are complete, reassess every one of Ozpin's surviving teams. Mark them appropriately."

"Of course," Watts replied. "Once I've got a better understanding of their strengths and team dynamics, I'll plot a more efficient course."

Salem nodded. "Now, we just wait. Time will tell what happens next."

* * *

**RUBY ROSE'S GUNPLA**

**Gundam Destiny Scythe**

A balanced blend of speed and versatility, Ruby's perfected design of the Gundam Destiny Scythe-the Gunpla she first used to race Tatsuya Yuuki mere days ago-is a true successor to her original mobile suit, the Crimson Strike Noir. Based around the Destiny Gundam but implementing cosmetic and functional modifications that are featured in the Gundam Deathscythe and Gundam Deathscythe EW (not Hell Custom), the Destiny Scythe takes performance to the absolute extreme.

Ruby has mounted a silver Plavsky Particle-resonating piece on the backpack of the Destiny Scythe for more excellent synchronization with her own movements. Due to it using the Destiny's body, the Gunpla has access to the high-speed Wings of Light that made the Destiny Gundam one of the fastest and most dangerous mobile suits of Gundam SEED. Ruby replaced the default Destiny Gundam shoulders with Deathscythe EW's, due to the small vernier thrusters inside them that she can use to abruptly turn or increase her swinging speed with her Scythe.

Like most SEED Gunpla, the Destiny Scythe is fully capable of remaining airborne nearly indefinitely. This, coupled with her speed and maneuverability, makes combating the Destiny Scythe problematic for many. Ruby uses this to her advantage offensively, staying at range and firing from afar with her long-range beam rifle or swooping in quickly and striking with her melee weapons.

For offense, Ruby uses Crescent Rose, the transforming weapon she developed. Doubling as both the replacement for the Destiny's giant anti-ship sword and its beam rifle, as it can shift from rifle to beam-edged physical scythe in a matter of seconds. Ruby also uses the large beam cannon mounted on Destiny's back, but she has modified the sub arm it is on to be able to extend and flip the cannon over her shoulder in addition to slinging it along her hip like normal, granting her a wider range of uses with it. She also maintains the palma fiocina beam cannons in her palms for extremely close range grappling attacks and two powerful Vulcan machine guns in the forehead.

Defensively, Ruby has mounted Destiny's beam shield components directly onto her Gunpla's forearm. While not as powerful as when it was on the actual physical shield, it still can withstand a powerful shot or two before breaking, and Ruby typically only uses it sparingly, as her speed is her main line of defense.


End file.
